Ferrets and Weasels
by Catnipob
Summary: I am currently revamping the story somewhat as I feel that I was a bit inexperienced when I first wrote this. Please see my profile page for details and excuses! As ever, I WILL NOT give up on this story...
1. No one deserves to die

**Ok, This is my first go at fanfiction so I have now gone back and edited the first few chapters for better punctuations. Thanks to those who reviewed and any constructive criticism welcome!**

Ginny lay, hidden by the undergrowth, crawling slowly towards the noise… She could hear laughter coming from a clearing, it didn't sound nice.

She was scared of what lay up ahead but this was what she was prepared for when she offered to take part in the war.

Finally she was close enough to hear what the hooded form was saying:

"You're nothing but a failure. You're worthless. I enjoyed finishing your mother, now the dark lord has allowed me the pleasure of ending your sorry life… and don't expect it to be a pleasant end either."

He flicked his wand out and sent the Crucio spell flying towards the form tightly curled in a foetal position on the floor. The victim of the agonising spell jerked uncontrollably but didn't make a sound.

"Come on… scream for your life. The more you fight against me the more I will hurt you. I want to hear you beg for my mercy."

Ginny couldn't take any more of this; she slowly withdrew her wand, crept out from her hiding place and spelled the hooded person with a stupefy before he was even aware of her presence. She quickly bound him and muttered a small spell so that her people could track his position and capture him.

She leant over the now still form and gently reached out her hand "you're safe for now, come with me and I'll take you somewhere safe."

"Leave me." Came a strangled male voice from under the hood.

"Don't be a fool, there are more where he came from, they're killing anyone who opposes them."

In barely a whisper the man said "I deserve to die."

Ginny was shocked "don't say that. No one deserves to die. Not like that!"

"I do." The man slowly stood up and pulled back his hood revealing a pointed chin, thin bloodless lips, cold grey eyes and finally white-gold hair.

"Malfoy!"


	2. Debts and spells

**Again, edited for punctuation!**

"Malfoy!"

Ginny gasped in shock and held out her wand in a defensive stance.

"Having second thoughts about that noble statement are you?" said Draco Malfoy.

"What?"

"If you'd known it was me you'd probably have left him to it I imagine…"

Ginny looked shocked at that "No. Not even you deserve to be tortured to death Malfoy. But why you? I thought you were one of them."

Draco laughed "I wanted to be - once." He went silent and didn't reveal any more, instead looking down at his unconscious assailant.

"You're bleeding!" Ginny said as she spotted a large gash on his head and blood matting in his hair.

"What of it?" Said Draco, swaying slightly. Ginny grabbed him but he shook her off "I can stand on my own thanks Weasel." Ginny looked at her hands. They were covered with blood, Malfoy's blood.

"Gods Malfoy let me help you before your arrogance finishes what he started."

"What?" snapped Draco.

"You're bleeding to death…"

"Nonsense." muttered Draco, a little woozily. But he didn't pull back when Ginny looked at his wounds.

"These aren't too bad, no major arteries. You should be ok once I've bandaged you to stop the bleeding." Ginny pulled a small bag out of her cloak - a muggle first aid kit.

"For the love of the gods' woman - you're a witch, Can't you spell me better? I'd do it myself but they destroyed my wand. Here lend me yours."

Ginny snatched her wand away from him. Draco sneered "I'm not going to go all Death Eater on you. I know you think I'm a complete bastard but I have been brought up in a pureblood family. You saved my life and however little I wanted it saved I know the debt I owe you. I won't hurt you."

"Until you've repaid the debt, right?" Ginny said, raising an eyebrow of her own. "But it's not that… The Death Eaters are tracing us by our magic."

"That's impossible!" Draco replied "You can only tell what spell has been cast, not the people who cast them. They wouldn't be able to tell if you were friend or foe."

Ginny nodded "You're right of course, which is why it took us so long to realise how they kept finding us. But if you hadn't noticed; Your people-"

Draco shot Ginny a disgusted stare and raised his eyebrow "care to rephrase that Weasel?"

"Fine, _Ferret_... In case you hadn't noticed _Death Eaters_ don't tend to use healing spells. They obviously don't care about their people enough to help them. So they were following traces of healing spells and finding us. Since then we've been using these until we can get somewhere they can't trace us. But I would have thought you knew all about that?"

"If you hadn't noticed I'm not exactly Mr. Popular with Voldemort's crowd. If you must know, I've spent the last 3 weeks locked in a tower waiting his sentence, so no. I wasn't aware of any tracking plans."

"I, I didn't realise." Ginny said, her look softening slightly and taking in just how skinny Malfoy looked. "If you let me bandage you for now then we can get you healed by a pro and get you a decent meal."

Draco's focus on Ginny seemed to waver slightly; he slid down a tree to the floor. "Fine but make it quick and if you tell ANYONE I'll… well, you'd just better not say anything."

"Don't worry. I won't wound your pride by telling any of your buddies Malfoy. Ok, this might sting a little." said Ginny, gingerly cleaning Draco's scalp wound.

"Shit bitch that hurt!" Draco yanked his head back, then wished he hadn't when he felt immediately dizzy.

"It'll hurt a lot more if you call me _that_ again Malfoy. Just because I'm one of the 'good guys' doesn't mean I have to take crap from you. Now be quiet before someone hears us. You're not in any state to fight anyone and I don't wanna have to drag your arse out of here."

Draco scowled "No need for the melodramatics, you took me by surprise that's all. I wasn't expecting it to hurt so much; I almost prefer the torture... Joke!" he finished after seeing Ginny's face.

Ginny pulled a hip flask from one of her pockets "Here, drink this. It will help to numb the pain."

Draco took a swig, pulled a face and then took another, much larger mouthful.

"Hey slow down. Like I said I do _not_ fancy carrying you to safety, skinny as you may be…"

"s'no need to insult me Weasel. Can't help it if I've not had more than dry bread for weeks. Anyway I c'n handle my drink." Draco mumbled.

"Maybe, but I brewed that myself and it's stronger than it tastes, plus you've got no food in there to soak it up with." She finished the bandaging up his head and arms.

"We'll see shall we?" said Draco, raising an eyebrow. "The pain seems to've dulled so it's doing something right anyway."

"A 'thank you' would do." said Ginny, when suddenly Malfoy clapped his hand over her mouth.

"Sshh. I can hear someone. Over there..." Ginny turned to look where he was pointing. She listened for a minute but heard nothing and turned back.

"I…" Ginny stopped. Draco had disappeared. "Curse you Malfoy!" She muttered.

A twig broke somewhere behind her. "I can hear you; you're not healthy enough to run fast. You still have my flask Ferret."

A second later Ginny hit a tree with the force from the expelliarmis spell that had just been directed at her.

"I have no idea what you are talking about little girl." came a voice from across the clearing. But my Lord doesn't need you to talk sense… Hmm, I'll get a good reward for delivering you to him. My lord likes torturing young girls; maybe he'll even let me have some fun with you first!"

A figure detached itself from a tree and started walking slowly towards her…


	3. A deal

"My lord likes torturing young girls; maybe he'll even let me have some fun with you first!"

A figure detached itself from a tree and started walking slowly towards her…

Ginny's eyes darted round the clearing looking for an escape but the hooded figure had his wand pointed right at her heart.

The Death Eater walked forward one step more before crumpling to the ground. Ginny could see Draco standing behind the body holding a tree branch with both hands.

"Malfoy! Thank you, I thought you'd. Look... thanks!" she mumbled, not quite wanting to say she thought he'd run for it.

"Don't worry about it; I was saving my arse too. No wand, remember? I'd have been no use in a magic fight." Draco muttered, seeming distracted. He leant down and picked up both her wand and the death eaters and pointed both wands down at the figure with a look of pure malice on his face.

Ginny felt a little nervous. "Erm, Malfoy…" No response "Draco?" He looked up at the sound of his first name "What are you doing? Can I have my wand please?"

Draco looked at her, and then back to the motionless figure. "No. I'm going to kill him."

Ginny's eyes narrowed "You can't!"

"Watch me…"

"I know you aren't a murderer Malfoy, Harry told me."

Draco looked up at her "What would he know about me?"

"He was there the night that... when Dumbledore was murdered. He was… hidden. Harry told me that you couldn't - wouldn't go through with it."

Draco's head drooped "I wish I had killed him!" he said.

Ginny gasped "You bastard."

Draco gave Ginny a venomous look. "They killed my mother because of my failure to finish the old fool and I'M the bastard?" He spat the words out before he could regret admitting he actually had emotions.

Genuine sorrow showed on Ginny's face. "I - I'm so sorry. I can only imagine how awful that must have been and how much hate you must have for them… But killing him won't bring your mother back. It will just make you more like him. Like them."

Draco laughed "You have no idea how long my father tried to make me that person… He tried everything, coaxing me, beating me… And all he had to do was kill my mother and he could have had his '_perfect heir_' years ago." he sneered.

"I won't let you become a monster like your father." Ginny said moving closer to the Death Eater's body.

"You have no idea about my Father. You think his name calling and taunting your family was bad. Try being the son that just couldn't live up to his Father's expectations. One minute spoiled rotten and treated like a god, the next being kicked, spelled at and punished for not winning that Quiddich match or not quite beating mudblood Granger in classes. What can a few jibes be compared to that?" Draco shook his head and looked at Ginny. She had gone pale and was looking far away.

"Name calling never bothered me Malfoy. What your father did to me… you don't know the half of it."

"Explain yourself." said Draco

"I... can't. I won't!"

"As much as I hate the man I think I have a right to know about my own father's actions."

Ginny shook her head and seemed to come out of her trance. She thought for a moment. "Ok Malfoy. I'll do a deal with you. You leave with me now and let my people deal with these two." she indicated with her head to the two Death Eater's bodies lying in the clearing. "In return I will give you all the gory details of my run-in with your Father. Not that it will be pleasant for me."

Draco considered her proposal. "Why do you want to help me; help them too I guess?" he asked, pointing to the bodies.

"Because I've seen enough bloodshed to last a life-time. I don't think I could stand to see one more person murdered. Let them pay the price for their cruelty by being imprisoned. Not by creating more death." Ginny looked at him "Last chance Malfoy. Take it or leave it."

"Well Weasley, I'm not used to taking orders from people outside of my family. Let's just say I'm used to getting my way. But I guess if it's a deal then I can handle that. I'll do what you want then but don't think I'm going to be pleasurable company."

"Fine, I'm not promising I am either. It's a deal then." Ginny said holding out her hand for her wand. Draco handed it back to her and she promptly bound and spelled the second body.

"Ok. There should be a port-key somewhere round here. I'll look over there; it should be in the roots of a tree." She dug around a little and soon had found an old green umbrella hidden in the roots.

"I'm sorry about this Malfoy, I'll explain later."

Draco threw her a confused look. Ginny pointed her wand and cast an Immobulus on him before he could blink. She held his arm to stop him from falling.

"I promise, I'll explain everything when we get there." Ginny seemed almost amused at Malfoy's predicament and all he could do was glare at her. She grabbed his arm a little more firmly and then leaned down and touched the umbrella…


	4. I need your help

**I'd like to give big thanks to Ronnie for the help in the last review. I'd never noticed that as it doesn't seem to come up in a spell check so I'll do my best to put in more punctuation from now on! **

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**She grabbed his arm a little more firmly and then bent down and touched the umbrella… 

They both felt a pulling sensation and wind in their faces. Ginny made sure to hold on to Draco's arm tightly and soon enough they arrived at their destination. They were in a small dark room, Ginny propped Draco against a wall and lit a couple of lamps. He glanced round as far as he could see by peering sideways. The room looked old and not well decorated, but someone had obviously made an effort to make the room a little more welcoming. There was a small desk in one corner and in another section a patterned screen had been set up in front of a small bed.

"I'm sorry about this…" said Ginny, not looking very sorry at all "I couldn't take the risk of anyone coming in and hexing you before waiting for an explanation."

Ginny took the Death Eaters wand from Draco's pocket. She then cast a featherweight charm on Draco and moved him over to the small bed and pulled the screen round to cover him.

"Stay here... not that you have much choice. I'm going to see if I can get you a healer."

Draco tried to move but couldn't manage to do so much as wiggle a finger. His eyes followed Ginny across the room to a set of shelves covered with ornaments. Ginny picked up one that looked like some kind of spiky green plant and held it tightly in her hand. _Great,_ thought Draco, _I'm stuck here and all she wants to do is play with some bloody toys. _He looked a little closer, seeing as he had nothing better to do. There were all sorts of decorations there; In just that quick glance Draco had seen several meaningless shapes and a multitude of animals; a horse, a howling wolf, a couple of different birds, even a dragon.

Ginny sighed. "Where is she?" she muttered "oh, who to try… who won't go nuts before I can explain?" She put the plant back and looked thoughtfully at the shelves.

"Hah, you'll do. Actually this might work well." She grabbed a small metal cat which looked like it was just about to pounce and again held it tightly in her hand.

A few moments later and footsteps could be heard, and then a door opened.

"Ginny, you're safe. B-but you're covered in blood, are you ok? Have you been hurt?" came a familiar voice. Draco couldn't quite place it.

"I'm fine, it's not my blood. I wasn't sure if you'd be here, I tried Pomfry but there was no answer."

"I know; she's had to go to the other site. She'll be back tomorrow. You're lucky to catch me actually, I only popped back to drop off some more information and update everyone on what we've found so far."

"Well it's good to see you Hermione."

Draco groaned; he finally recognised the voice. _The mudblood, just great_. _Maybe the Weasel wants to torture me too. _He gave up on trying to break the spell and focused back in on the conversation.

"How's Harry?" Ginny asked.

"He's ok Ginny; Well - as good as can be expected. He's… very driven you could say. He only has the one thing on his mind now and he's determined to succeed. At any cost."

"Oh." said Ginny quietly. "Anyway, that's not why I called you. I found someone being attacked earlier and brought them back here. I kind of need your help."

"So that's why there's all the blood. Ginny, you know you're the next best healer after Pomfry. Why you must have patched up almost as many people as her, why do you need my help?"

"Erm, this one's a bit different Mi… You aren't going to like this one bit and neither will anyone else... But, well you know how I have this compulsion to help strays and waifs; anyway I saved erm, someone. Then they kind of saved me back and they needed healing so, well…" Ginny babbled a little.

"Gin, you're making no sense. What do you need me to do?" Hermione asked, thoroughly perplexed.

"It's easier if you just come and see." Ginny said "But promise not to shout or freak out. Promise?"

"Well I guess... Ok I promise. I don't know what's got you like this Ginny but you know I don't '_freak out' _as you put it."

Draco heard footsteps coming over and then saw Ginny's face looking worried as she folded back the screen.

To Hermione's credit she didn't scream, shout or 'freak out'. However she pressed her lips together so tightly that they went white.After taking a few deep breaths she asked in a slightly high pitched voice.

"Ginny, I think you have some explaining to do. Now I do trust you but please tell me what possible explanation you could have for bringing _this_ person here?"

"He was being tortured Mi... By a Death Eater, from what I can tell because he didn't kill Du... Well you know what Harry saw; you know the whole story. Probably better than I do... So I saved him, and then we were attacked and he saved me, well he said it was to save himself but we've always known he was an arrogant prat so he would say that. I need you to help me explain this to everyone."

_I'm here; don't talk about me as if I'm not right in front of you_ thought Draco. _This is humiliating; I don't know why I agreed to go with her… __Yes I do know; nothing better to do, no where safe to go. _As much as he hated to admit it; it was kind of nice to have someone honestly want to help him out, even if it was someone he hated. _Three weeks locked away in a tower has sent me mad, _he thought_. I'd always have thought I'd rather be left to die than accept help from a Weasel. Even if she is a_ _slight improvement on the males of her family._

"Well Ginny, he's the last person I expected to be here and I'm far from happy about this but I'll help you talk to everyone. We can't turn him out now. But no one's going to like it much. You're just lucky Ron and Harry aren't going to be here for a while…"

Ginny looked sad "Yeah, really lucky." She sighed "Look, thanks Hermione, I knew I could count on you. And, well I'll face the consequences if anything goes wrong."

"Ginny, if he causes any trouble I'm sure it would be disastrous and I think the guilt would be more than enough for you to dwell on. But I'm sure we can fool proof the situation with a few spells and other precautions. Look, you clean him up while I break the news to that lot downstairs. Don't let him get near your wand" With a small smile for Ginny and a single thoughtful glance at Malfoy she left the room.

Ginny moved closer to Draco with a slight look of apprehension. "Ok Malfoy, I'm going to take the spell off now. Behave yourself or I'll hit you with another Bat-Bogey Hex!"


	5. dreams and pity

**Thanks again for any further reviews and I will be going back and editing the first few chapters for better punctuation.**

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"Ok Malfoy, I'm going to take the spell off now. Behave yourself or I'll hit you with another Bat-Bogey Hex!"

Ginny released him and prepared herself for trouble… Draco did nothing; he just sat there staring ahead.

"Malfoy, are you ok? Look you know I had to do it, imagine how you'd feel if a suspected enemy suddenly turned up at one of your bases."

Draco sighed heavily "Look Weasley, I'm used to being a captive now, if you'd forgotten… I don't really care much what happens to me any more. Just heal me so your buddies can throw me out of here without feeling bad."

"Sarcastic as ever Malfoy. Fine I'll heal you up but we can't just let you go. I know you aren't a murderer and I'm guessing you're not going to go running back into the arms of Voldemort but that doesn't mean I trust you. We will need to make sure you don't pose a threat before you can leave."

Draco sighed again "fine, it's not as if I have anywhere to rush off to right this second anyway. Do your worst."

Ginny was shocked at how little fight he seemed to have in him. Where was the spoiled arrogant boy she was expecting? Ok he was still sarcastic, haughty and rude but there was no real force to his words. Maybe he'd be back to his obnoxious self once he was healed and rested.

She healed his wounds with a few simple spells and scourgified most of the blood away; all that was left to show the sorry state he'd been in was a few stains on his clothes.

"I'm going to make up a simple healing draught. Your wounds are all fine now but you lost a lot of blood and from the sound of it your body needs all the help it can get after being practically starved." She busied herself mixing a potion from many vials tucked neatly in the desk in the corner.

"Here drink this, it will make you feel better I promise."

"Are you sure it's not poison Weasel?" Draco muttered, downing it in one go before Ginny had a chance to answer. "Not that I care if it is but I doubt you'd go to all this bother just to poison me. Even someone who hates me as much a you dooo." Draco's head nodded a couple of times "whatchoo given me weassseel?" he mumbled almost incoherently.

"I just added a little bit of a sleeping draught to the mixture. I figured you'd need the rest, you look like hell."

"Feel like I've gone there and can't... can't... escape." managed Draco before succumbing to the potion.

Ginny watched his chest moving lightly and was happy that she hadn't given him too large a dose. _That should keep him out for the whole_ _night,_ she thought feeling satisfied. Pomfry was good at judging potions but Ginny just seemed to naturally know how much to give a patient. She sat at the desk and started sorting through and filling up any empty bottles, then once she was satisfied everything was in order she accioed herself a blanket and started reading some study papers. _Even with a war on I have to keep up with my studies, as if I don't have enough to think about. _Actually Ginny was more than happy to keep herself occupied. If not then she would start thinking about Harry and how he'd finished their relationship before it had properly begun. She understood why but it didn't stop her feeling rejected. Hermione could go with him but not her... Still she was playing her part now and he couldn't stop her. It seemed pointless to just sit back and do nothing when any help could help them win this war. _What_ _good is hiding when it may all go wrong and I could be killed anyway?_ No, she was a fighter and was going to show him that, even if everyone did try their hardest to keep her away from danger.

She was just about to start a new essay when she heard a low moan from the bed. _He can't be awake; I never get my doses wrong. _Cautiously she walked over to the bed and heard him groan "No don't. You can't, I'm telling you to stop. STOP." he screamed.

She held his shoulders lightly "you're ok now, you're safe here."

Draco threw his arms around her tightly; Ginny was too shocked to react but realised he was still asleep when he muttered "Mother, you're safe… I thought they. I couldn't... you're ok though." He relaxed and lay back down still grasping her hand. His breathing went back to normal and he fell once again into a deep sleep.

Ginny sat there not knowing what to do or think. She couldn't help but notice how warm his hands had been, the room wasn't hot but she could still feel the warmth from where his hands had grasped her. It was strange but she'd always imagined him to be cold. She checked him for fever but he seemed fine. Ginny sighed softly, she couldn't take her hand back from him now. She felt achingly sorry for him, knowing that she couldn't bring his mother to comfort him, wondering how she would ever be able to cope should anything happen to her own Mother.

Ginny conjured a chair and prepared to sleep sitting, and not for the first time either. As she nodded off she considered the events of the last few hours. While she still didn't trust Malfoy and was undeniably wary of what he was capable of, she was definitely considering him in a different light.


	6. A gift

**This is quite a long chapter without a great deal happening but it has a few bits of info that I realised needed adding before I went further with the story. ****I have a feeling this story may have quite a few chapters as I seem to be getting into the dialogue quite a lot! **

**Thanks again for any further reviews; I will try to put a bit more details in for some of the chapters. **

**Sorry if there are delays in updating, I'm getting married soon and have lots of planning to do (and everything keeps going wrong!!!!) **

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While she still didn't trust Malfoy and was undeniably wary of what he was capable of, she was definitely considering him in a different light. 

Ginny awoke to someone gently nudging her shoulder, when she finally managed to open her eyes and her vision cleared Hermione was standing next to her with a questioning look on her face.

"Hmm?" Ginny mumbled before realising that Hermione was looking pointedly at her hands which were still clasped in Draco's grip.

"Oh!" Ginny's eyes flew open fully, "It's not-"

"Explain later Ginny. They want you downstairs, I've talked to them but I'm just as dubious as they are so I guess I didn't do a fantastic job of convincing them that your patient is a worthy one."

Ginny gently slipped her hand from Draco's and stretched her cramped body. "OK, I'm ready. How long have I been asleep?"

"I'm not really sure, but I left you a few hours ago, I had some other matters that I needed to talk to the order members here about and they took quite some time."

Hermione held the door open for Ginny and took a look back into the room. "Will he stay asleep while we're gone?"

Ginny followed her eyes to Draco's slumbering form "yeah, he's going to be out until morning. We don't have to worry about him murdering us all in our beds."

Hermione looked shocked "Ginny, how can you joke about something so serious. That's appalling!"

Ginny sighed "You're right and I'm sorry; I know you're worried about this. I've just woken up and you know I've got an awful sense of humour at the best of times. But it really is fine, he won't budge for tonight. I'm not stupid enough to trust a Malfoy."

Hermione still looked unsure "I'm just going to lock the room just in case. You checked him for a wand didn't you?"

"Yes Mione. Please can you have a little trust in me for once?" Ginny shook her head in despair, everyone still thought of her as a little girl, incapable of thinking sensibly.

The two girls walked the rest of the way in silence; Ginny was contemplating her actions and running over her decision to bring a Malfoy back to the order's safe haven. She just had a feeling that it was the right thing to do. Still none of her reasoning stopped her from taking a deep breath when the meeting room door loomed up ahead of her.

Ginny's hand reached out but Hermione caught it before she got to the handle. "It's ok Ginny, I'll go in first. They aren't angry or anything, just a bit worried about what might happen."

Ginny just nodded slightly, she knew that these were all good people; just that everything was so serious now and everyone except her took so well to being solemn. Ginny couldn't help but try to bring a smile to people's faces, it was just in her nature and probably the reason she was still treated as if she was a child; but her optimism wasn't what was needed anymore.

Remus, Tonks and several other less senior members of the order all sat around an old oak table strewn with paperwork and sinister and gnarled objects that Ginny knew they had been researching futilely.

Hermione cleared her throat to announce their arrival. Remus looked up at the two girls "Ah Hermione, Ginny. Please take a seat. Now Ginny - Hermione has filled us in but we would like you to tell us first hand exactly what happened earlier tonight."

Ginny retold her encounter with Draco and explained how he was the victim of the whole situation and it seemed as if he was no longer welcome in the ranks of the death eaters.

"Now Ginny, did it occur to you that this may have been a trap in order to get a spy - or worse - into our midst?" Remus asked.

"Well, I did consider it," Ginny started hesitantly, "but there were a few things that just wouldn't work. First, the spot that I found Malfoy isn't a place that anyone goes to regularly. There have been no reports of Death Eaters and we only go there rarely and only for medical supplies, that was the only reason I was there as I'm not allowed to go to dangerous areas." A hint of resentment sounded in Ginny's voice but she fought it down. "So if it was a trap surely they would have set the scene in a location where they were more likely to be seen or overheard?" Remus and Tonks both nodded in affirmation.

"Secondly, Malfoy was seriously injured and I honestly think the person there meant to kill him. Now I know they could have all been acting but it just seems like too much of a risk for them to take. Plus I can hardly imagine Malfoy volunteering to be tortured close to death for anyone's cause. He's just not that sort of person. Thirdly, he has no dark mark on his arm, I bandaged him so I would have seen it. I know that doesn't mean a lot for definite but it's another thing to think about."

Ginny paused for a moment before deciding that the order needed to know everything. "Lastly, well… Tonks - they killed his mother, your Aunt. So I wouldn't imagine he would be willing to help the people responsible for that."

"Did he tell you that?" asked Tonks. "I understand your reasoning so far but we only have his word that they killed her. I thought that Bellatrix's devotion to Voldemort might have saved Narcissa from death, but who knows with people like that. I'm ashamed to be related to them."

Again Ginny took a moment before answering "No, I gave him a sleeping potion and he was talking about it in his sleep so he can't have been lying. He seems extremely affected by the loss. That's why I was holding his hand Mione, no matter how much I disliked him at school or who he was before, he's my patient now and I can't decide to treat him differently from any other patient!"

Remus took in her flushed face and digested her words carefully. "Ok Ginny, why don't you go and get some food while we take a few minutes to discuss this. We understand why you helped him, now we just need to decide what to do from here onwards. I'll call you back in a little while."

Ginny rose from the chair, nodded her head to the group and made her way slowly to the kitchen. Once there she rummaged through the cupboards which she had made sure were well stocked. _No point in going hungry_ she thought, _plus the patients always need a good meal. _Everyone loved Ginny's cooking, almost as much as her mother's. She sighed, _I wish mum and dad were here_. They were both at 12 Grimmauld place with Professor McGonagall and some other members of the Order. No one could enter that house without being first told about the location by Dumbledore and now that he was dead it meant that only those previously informed could go there. So several other houses had been found and the order had been split in to small groups which meant if they had any new members there would be no problems with them having meetings. While Ginny knew she had done a good thing by opting to stay here to help look after patients rather than going with her family, she couldn't help but feel a little lonely without them.

She hadn't long finished her snack when Tonks came into the kitchen; Ginny couldn't help but smile at her bubble-gum pink hair. Tonks was like the sister she'd never had and Ginny was glad that Tonks was happy again and had found something special with Remus.

"You can come back in now sweetie." Tonks said and led her back, occasionally bumping into the odd cabinet here and there.

When both of them had settled back into their chairs Remus cleared his throat and began. "Ginny, we've discussed it and we all agree that given the circumstances and location of what you witnessed it seems too far fetched to be a trap. However we still don't trust the Malfoy boy. I know you say he doesn't seem to be one of them... but, and I mean no disrespect here, you are very keen to see good in people, even those undeserving. We will have to interrogate him to find out what happened both before and after the events that we all are painfully aware of; see if he is a threat to us or even if he may be able to provide us with some useful information. However we will wait until you think he is recovered enough to talk to us. In the meantime the house will have several charms and spells placed on it to prevent him from leaving and while he will be able to roam the house at most times he must be restricted to an allocated room whenever we have meetings or visitors. I hope you will understand that our time is already extremely full and we have many pressing matters to attend to, so I would like to entrust the task of keeping Mr. Malfoy out of trouble to you."

"I understand Profes. I mean, Remus" Ginny still had difficulty calling her old Professor by his first name. "I'll do my best to do all that you asked and I'm sorry if I have put everyone in an awkward position but I honestly did what I felt was right. Thank you for listening to me. If there's nothing else then I'd really appreciate a proper sleep!"

"Of course Ginny." Remus smiled. "We will see you in the morning, Hermione said she has locked the room so if he wakes before us all will be fine."

Ginny walked slowly through the old house to her allocated room, to one side of the medical room. She changed into one of the few pairs of new pyjamas that she had treated herself to and slumped down in her small but comfy bed. As she drifted off to sleep she couldn't help but think of her what Remus had said to her and how Dumbledore had often said similar words in her many meetings with him in the years since her experience in the Chamber of Secrets...

_"I can see in you a rare magic Ginny, I have met very few people with it and sadly in such days such a gift is in decline. I think that when you mature a little then this power will make itself known and will be most useful. What I am talking about Ginny is the ability to look at some one with no pre-disposition for whom they are; you can truly look into their souls and see if there is good in them. _

_When you reach your 7th year then I will take you in extra classes to show you how this magic can be harnessed, I will be teaching you myself as I happen to be fortunate enough to be one of those rare individuals who have this power. Although I think you may surpass us all when you blossom. Until then you must trust your judgement; even when people may doubt you, do not doubt yourself. I know you are a good, pure girl and you will always strive to do what is best." _

She sighed, so far she hadn't felt anything different to how she had always felt, she was still unsure of herself and now that Dumbledore's trust in people had been misplaced she wasn't even sure what to think about his words… Look at where trust had got him.


	7. Charms

She sighed, so far she hadn't felt anything different to how she had always felt, she was still unsure of herself and now that Dumbledore's trust in people had been misplaced she wasn't even sure what to think about his words… Look at where trust had got him.

Draco awoke feeling much more refreshed than he had in quite some time. He thought back to last night's events and wondered what would happen to him now. Yesterday he couldn't have cared less but this morning he felt a little more invigorated than previously. Draco could remember dreaming about his mother being tortured and killed in front of him, a recurring nightmare, but this time she had come back afterwards to comfort him. He knew it was just a dream and his mother wasn't coming back but he wondered maybe if she was looking over him, maybe she would visit him as a ghost even.

Draco stretched gracefully, rubbed his eyes and dragged his fingers through his pale hair. Then he took a proper look around the room. It wasn't exactly grand but it was better than where he'd been before, _at least they have a bed here_ he thought, _better than the damp straw and blankets I've been sleeping on - anyone would think we were living in medieval times_.

Nosing around in the large antique desk he found many different potions and ingredients, fingering some of the labels he realised how much he missed the years at school where his biggest worries were trying to find new ways to insult his fellow pupils. He felt like he'd had to grow up so quickly this last year and wished his life could have taken a different path. _I was always so keen to be just like my Father but if I'd known what that truly meant maybe I would have thought twice._

Slowly he walked round the room, dragging his finger lazily across the surfaces of picture frames. He stopped at one of the golden trio and Ginny all grinning and waving at the camera; Harry had his arm awkwardly round Ginny's shoulders. _Merlin, Scarhead can't even hold a woman properly; what a waste of space_ he thought.

Draco finally came to a halt by the shelves he had seen Ginny take the ornaments from last night. There really were an odd assortment of objects but the one he was interested in was the model dragon; ever since he was a child he'd admired the creatures – they fascinated him. The one here was a female, larger than the males and fiercer. The males were sleeker, faster and stronger but it was the females who were more dangerous when angered.

He picked the little ornament up to see if it had a makers mark on it but when he gripped it to turn it over it became extremely hot in his hands and in his shock Draco dropped it. He bent to the floor to retrieve it when he heard "alohomora" and in ran the Weasley girl wearing a pair of green silk pyjamas and with her flame red hair flying wildly round her face.

"Who called? What's wrong? I…" Ginny paused and after looking quickly round the room turned to Draco looking curious but slightly impressed. "_You_ called me? How did you know what to do?" she asked slightly breathlessly.

"I didn't summon you Weasley; I wouldn't own a servant who can't even clothe themselves properly!" Draco raised an eyebrow and indicated her pyjama top which was buttoned up incorrectly. He couldn't help noticing that where she had missed the top button there was quite a bit of bare skin showing.

Ginny tugged at the bottom of her top and laughed when she realised it was buttoned wrongly "Just like me, I was just about to take a shower when I felt someone calling me so I threw on the nearest thing to hand. But if you didn't call…" she looked down on the floor and noticed the dragon that Draco was about to pick up. "It was you!"

Draco looked a little perplexed so Ginny tried to explain. "These are one method of contacting each other, some of us can't cast a patro… erm - well I can't really go into other ways we talk to each other. But there's no harm in you knowing this seeing as you'll be staying here a while. If you grip someone's statue then it's charmed to make its partner heat up. Look…" She pulled a long chain out from under her top; Draco's eyes once again rested on her pale, slightly freckled skin and wondered if she was covered in those freckles all over. He shook his head, disgusted with himself and instead concentrated on what she was saying.

"…So for example if you were holding my charm then the necklace I have on heats up to let me know to come back here. We can only call from this room though; it would be too confusing trying to figure out where you were meant to go otherwise! Plus we could only charm them to work for a certain distance so it's generally Madam Pomfry or myself that get called if there's a patient needing help." Ginny finished and looked at him expectantly. "Well, c'mon aren't you just a tiny bit impressed?" she asked.

"Not really Weasley," Draco drawled "it's only a simple charm location device, it has been done before although not quite so personally I suppose. So, a dragon eh? How come you chose that? I would have had you down for something smaller and furry – say… a weasel perhaps. Or did your idiot brother already have his name down for that?"

"I see you're back on form then Malfoy, your comments are as delightful as ever!" Ginny said "If you must know Ron's charm is the Chudley Cannons player flying a broomstick, but there's no point in you trying to call him to wind him up because he's with Harry somewhere and they're not contactable. Anyway, I chose a dragon because I've always had a bit of a passion for them. They're so majestic and beautiful. My brother Charlie used to teach me all their names when I was a little girl."

Draco sneered "How come Saint Potter didn't demand the broom? He seems to fancy himself quite the flyer and those other two suck up to him so much I would imagine they'd let him have anything he wants."

"You can be as rude as you like to me Ferret but don't bad mouth my friends. Harry _is_ a good flyer and he would never demand things from Hermione and Ron, and if they let Harry have his way it's because they are friends. They treat each other as equals. Anyway, Harry chose a phoenix as a sign of respect for…" She paused, awkwardly not knowing how to talk about the man that Draco had plotted to kill. "Well he chose a phoenix like Fawkes."

Draco had gone quiet and was looking down at the floor; she didn't really know what to say to him so she did what her mother would have done if she was there. "Right Malfoy, first things first, you need to have a shower and then you're coming with me and I am going to make you a nice cup of tea and something filling for breakfast."


	8. Guilty until proven innocent

"Right Malfoy, first things first, you need to have a shower and then you're coming with me and I am going to make you a nice cup of tea and something filling for breakfast."

Draco was still grumbling to himself as he made his way unsurely through the house looking for the kitchen. Ginny had given him some spare clothes that they had saved in the house, she had explained that some of the students and squibs who wanted to help out in the war but were either too scared or not good enough to fight had rallied round and done things like making clothes, blankets, bandages and any other helpful items they could think of. _Bloody do-gooders!_ Draco thought as he pulled at the clothing. It was definitely not to his usual standards; he knew that the clothes he had upstairs were torn and stained beyond even spell repair but at least they were his and he knew once they had been good clothes.

He imagined by now Ginny had incinerated his clothes with her wand, the way she had wrinkled up her nose when she had looked at his old clothes was almost Slytherin-like. Draco gave a small chuckle as he remembered that was exactly how he had felt about her family's clothes at school, especially the Weasel King's dress robes! He couldn't mock them quite as much now that they had some money but he was sure to be able to entertain himself with finding some other fault to pull them up on.

Ginny looked up from the worktop as she heard the door open, Draco walked in with a faraway look in his eye and a smirk on his face. _Well he certainly seems in a better mood_ she thought, _maybe until he gets quizzed by Remus._ She smiled to herself at his appearance; the clothes she had picked for him certainly fit him well - a grey T-shirt with a fitted black jumper over it and black jeans. _How does that boy manage to make everything look so good? _Ginny mused, although she was aware how painfully thin he was. She imagined that without the jumper and t-shirt she would be able to see all of his ribs._ Not that I want to see him with his top off! _She thought to herself quickly.

"Good morning Malfoy… again! I see you're feeling better. I told you my potion would work."

"I am somewhat refreshed yes. Although I do feel that these clothes are tantamount to prisoner brutality."

Ginny laughed. "You are SO spoiled! I think you look good in those clothes, they fit like they were made for you…And you're not a prisoner, you're a… patient I guess."

"Oh sure weasel, so your little friends said I can just leave whenever I want did they?" He noticed that Ginny's face fell "I thought not. See as nice as you want to treat me and as jolly as you wish to make this situation, I am for all intents and purposes a prisoner."

Draco didn't feel so great about the sad look on her face. He'd enjoyed teasing her at school but having her so close made him feel a little uncomfortable and he wasn't sure why. _Why should I care?_ He thought, _they're going to be keeping me here for Merlin only knows how long. And what will they do with me then?_

"I'm so sorry!" Ginny blurted out. "This is all my fault; I brought you here and now you're stuck, I feel so bad." She hung her head.

Draco nearly laughed. "I really don't understand you Gryff types - have a bit of backbone. **_You_** saved **_my_** live and now you feel bad? Get a grip. If I wasn't brought up to be such a supercilious bastard I really would have thanked you by now."

Ginny looked up at him curiously, sniffled a little and then gave him a small smile. "You're being civil. And you put yourself down… You even _nearly_ seemed grateful. Did you hit your head last night?"

Draco eased himself gracefully into a large armchair by the kitchen fireplace, and stretched catlike as he basked in the heat. "Charming, you're nice to a girl and she throws it back in your face. I have enough good points to allow myself a small put-down. My looks, wit, charm and many other qualities are shining examples of what a fine individual I am. Anyway, I'm not so sure I consider arrogance such a bad fault. But since you asked, it's nice to have some human company again. I can ignore you or insult you if you would prefer. I don't particularly thrive off niceness."

He was suddenly shocked to feel something damp strike him across the back of his neck, Ginny had thrown a towel at him and was giggling.

He jumped up angrily "What on earth did you do that for?" he yelled.

Ginny looked shocked at his sudden outburst. "It was a joke, I… I didn't realise it would make you angry. I'm sorry." She suddenly had a sad thought. "Have you never had a play-fight?"

"No of course not!" he snapped, still confused and annoyed. "Why would anyone play at fighting? You people are strange. Is this what happens when you mix with muggles? You go mad?"

"No Malfoy; this is what happens when you mix with people you like. It's just fun sometimes to let go and play like children. You should really try it sometime, loosen up a little."

"Well I never really played as a child. I had tutors and learned to fly and such things. Although I can't really say I liked any of the people that taught me…" His stomach growled loudly and Ginny didn't fail to notice.

"Oh Malfoy, you must be starving. I'm so sorry. I was making you some food when you came in. It's probably done by now. Sit down and I'll bring it over to you."

Draco watched Ginny as she moved nimbly about the kitchen with her wand, opening big wooden cupboard doors and drawers and levitating out bowls and spoons. She had on a baggy green jumper that kept falling off one side as she moved. She had obviously worn it for comfort as it looked old and out of shape but Draco couldn't help admiring how it showed off her neckline and exposed shoulder. A voice in his head piped up, _Stop checking out the weasel, she's so below you it's ridiculous. _Another voice which he tried unsuccessfully to quashcouldn't help but notice how good she looked in Slytherin colours

He stared into the fire for a while before a thump on the table made him look up.

Ginny had put a large tray in front of him full off food. "Sorry it's nothing too fancy. I didn't want to give you anything too rich as it might not sit well after weeks of dry food." She said.

_Decent food at last_ Draco thought. On the tray say a few slices of toast, boiled eggs, a pot of tea, a selection of fruit and a bowl of something he didn't recognise.

"What the hell is that gloopy stuff? I'm not an invalid you know, I can eat real food!"

"Please don't tell me you've never had porridge Malfoy?" Ginny asked. "You're missing out. Here try it like this…"

The hairs on the back of Draco's neck stood up as she brushed against him to reach for a jug; she then proceeded to pour its contents all over the porridge. "Honey and porridge is one of my favourite comfort breakfasts. I know it looks gross but just try it!" she urged.

"Don't make me feed you like a baby." She threatened when he made no move to taste it.

Draco sighed heavily and then took his spoon, and tentatively tried a mouthful. His eyebrows raised but he didn't make a comment; just spooned up another, slightly larger mouthful.

Ginny grinned at him. "Told ya so!" She grabbed a big wooden spoon and her own bowl of porridge; smothered the food with honey and sat on another oversized armchair with her legs pulled up and tucked under her jumper looking thoroughly cosy.

Both of them ate in silence, Ginny wondering what sort of a childhood Malfoy had and feeling a rare pang of gratefulness for her large and friendly family; Malfoy wondering how he had ended up in this crazy situation and asking himself why he wasn't more annoyed at being stuck in a house with someone he supposedly hated.

Both were startled when the kitchen door banged open, Ginny jumped and gave a little cry of shock but Malfoy stayed silent and still except for his eyes which looked at the face of his old professor. He raised an eyebrow and wondered how many people he knew were hiding around this rickety old house.

Remus gave Ginny a kind look "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you jump Ginny. In fact I was looking for you…It was regarding Malfoy here and whether he was up to questioning but it seems as though your healing skills speak for themselves. Well boy, I have no doubt you will hate this but we need for you to come and answer some of our questions. Please don't bother to argue, I'm afraid that until proven innocent we are considering you as a Death Eater spy. We may be wrong but I have learned the hard way not to take any risks."


	9. Dumbledore's offer

**I'm sorry, this story is going too slowly at the moment. I know exactly where I want to take it and I'm frustrated as I have quite a few good ideas lined up (well I think they're pretty ok - for me anyway!) but I really need to get certain things all written out first.**

**I'm not a good enough writer to condense the facts into one chapter. This _will _be an action - romance I promise!! I have lots of middle scenes and quite a cool end, I just have to link them all up. **

**Thanks for the few of you who reviewed and any who haven't reviewed but who have been sticking with me (if you have!) and if you have any criticisms or advice I am SO more than happy to hear it! I will try to work suggestions into the story wherever possible.****

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"I'm afraid that until proven innocent we are considering you as a Death Eater spy. We may be wrong but I have learned the hard way not to take any risks."

Ginny looked a little surprised at Remus' forceful tone but she guessed that a lot of Tonks' hatred towards her relatives must have rubbed off on him.

"Ginny I think it best if you stay here for this, just in case it turns nasty." Remus said.

"It's quite alright," drawled Draco before Ginny could protest. "I won't give you any trouble. I will answer your questions to prove that I am on no-one's side anymore but I'm not going to give you help or suddenly have a change of heart and become a good guy. And before you question my willingness to talk to you; I've decided that I'm going to be as neutral as possible in this war. If you ever let me go then I shall probably try to disappear from the face of the earth. But I'm guessing you want me to say all of this in front of other witnesses yes? Let Weasley here come along, I still owe her for saving my life."

Both Ginny and Remus were taken aback by Draco's words. _He seems so calm, as if he has everything planned out in his head_ Ginny thought. Ginny looked at Remus who was staring intently at Draco, the two were staring directly at each other and Ginny felt they seemed to have locked wills almost. After a while Remus broke the contact. "Fine... both of you then. This way." Remus finally managed and he walked away shaking his head in puzzlement.

"You don't owe me Malfoy, you got the second Death Eater remember?" hissed Ginny

"No, that was purely for my benefit. I honestly wasn't thinking about you. I just wanted to seek some revenge and knew that I couldn't attack him face on without a wand. I don't think that can be counted as saving your life so our bond still stands. Before you think I'm going all noble, it is a magical bond so it's not as if I can erm… _weasel_ my way out of it."

"Oh. Right."

Remus led them down a set of concealed stairs to a dark hallway with several dark and warped wooden doors leading into eerie looking rooms cluttered with boxes, broken old chairs and warped mirrors. He paused before a closed door. "Look, I'm sorry about this but we weren't sure if you would be co-operative so we have taken several precautions."

He knocked on the door and turned the handle, as they entered the room every person in the room had their wands levelled right at them. Tonks stood up and asked Remus to cast a patronus. Remus looked dubiously at Draco, sighed and pulled out his wand. He thought for a brief moment and with a small smile playing on his lips said in a strong voice, "Expecto Patronum." An ethereal silver unicorn flew across the room to encircle Tonks. It raised on it's back legs and pawed the air before slowly fading.

Tonks breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the other members of the room. "It's fine, it's him."

Remus spoke up. "The boy seems to want to co-operate. Malfoy, say your piece first, it will make it easier for us to decide what we need to ask." Ginny overheard him muttering quietly to Tonks, "I tried what we discussed but he seems to be an extremely accomplished Occlumens." Ginny had vaguely heard Harry mention that word to Hermione and Ron and wondered what it meant.

Draco's mind was spinning. In the last few weeks he had been seriously re-thinking his life but the last few days he had all but given up. He thought of his dream about his mother's comforting presence and decided to voice some of the thoughts that had been plaguing him. Looking at the people surrounding him, every last person was looking at him with disdain; everyone except Ginny Weasley who probably should have more to hate him for than anyone else in the room. She was giving him a small reassuring smile.

He stood erect and proud; cleared his thoughts and took a deep breath. _I'm a Malfoy and that means something. I may not believe everything that my Father tried to beat into me but I know how to be strong. _

"I know you must all think me the scum of the earth and to be honest I'm not entirely sure that I'm not. But I am who I am and I can't change that now. My entire life I have been trained to think one way, believe that one way was better than any other. In the last year my life has been turned upside down. If someone told me a year ago I would have to be as open as this with anyone, let alone _the enemy_ I would have laughed at them - but times have changed...  
Just over a month ago I tried to kill someone. I'm sure you've all been filled in on the details… I failed, miserably and I've been paying for that ever since. What you may not know is that I was offered an escape, by none other than the man I tried to assassinate. Dumbledore." He paused as several people gasped or sobbed at the mention of their honoured dead leader.

"Yes, despite everything I tried to do to him, he still wanted to help me. I have thought about his words these last few weeks more than any others ever said to me. They are burned into my brain. He offered to hide me more thoroughly than anyone else could, me and... And my mother."

Draco paused for a moment to take a deep breath, "It's too late for her now but it isn't for me. I will answer your questions on one condition. You make Voldemort believe I am dead. I don't care how you convince the Death Eaters, it can be as horrific as you like. That's what Dumbledore offered and I was a fool not to accept. Many people could still be alive now. My mother included."


	10. In your dreams

**I very much want to thank Lost Enchanter, AlaiLuver, RedheadObsession and harrypotterchick4ever for their reviews. I haven't had any for a few chapters and thought maybe my story was a bit naff but I have to finish as I'd feel a bit bad leaving the story in my head and not getting it out! But it was lovely to get some nice reviews so thank you for making my Easter Sunday even happier than it already was (finally got to do some gardening!!)**

**Lost Enchanter, I'm going to R&R your new chapter as I LOVE you story and thanks for the congrats, countdown was 8 weeks yesterday and I've only just managed find out where my wedding dress had ended up (long and quite painful story, maybe I could use it as inspiration lol!!) wondering if I can finish the story before my honeymoon but I know I have quite a few chapters in my head and not a lot of free time at the mo!!**

**I tried to condense this a little, let me know how you feel it went. :o)**

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"I will answer your questions on one condition. You make Voldemort believe I am dead. I don't care how you convince the Death Eaters, it can be as horrific as you like. That's what Dumbledore offered and I was a fool not to accept. Many people could still be alive now. My mother included." 

Ginny's mind was still ringing with those words as she lay in her bed. The order members had attacked him with questions for over 3 hours. Many of which he refused to answer. _He was very clever about what he said,_ she thought. He had answered any questions about what he had been doing since Dumbledore's death, _mainly being tortured the poor soul_, and he'd also been forthcoming about why he had attempted it and his plans and failures over the year. What he wouldn't or couldn't answer questions about were Voldemort's future plans. Either he hadn't been kept informed as he claimed or he was unwilling to give away the information.

_Still, he's convinced them all that he's not a spy at least_ thought Ginny. _Now they just have to decide whether to help him, if they even can._

Just then she heard a low moan from the room next door, the room that had been designated to Draco. Ginny climbed out of her cosy bed and shivered slightly in the cold. She made her way quickly to the next room and knocked gently on the door. "Are you ok Malfoy?" she asked, but the only response was another groan, it sounded like he was in pain.

"Are you hurting? Do you need a potion?" Ginny said as she nudged open the heavy door which emitted a small creak. Peering through the dark into the room she realised that Draco was in the bed and asleep. She decided he was having a bad dream and made to walk back out of the door but stopped when she heard him ask "Mother?"

"No, I'm sorry. Your mother can't be with you." she said softly, walking over to his bedside. "She's gone to a better place now."

She took his hand and he sighed in his sleep. "Thank you." He whispered before relaxing into a deeper sleep. Ginny pulled the blanket around him and tiptoed slowly back to her own room. _Poor thing_, she thought as she wriggled deep down under her warm covers, _no friends, no one to turn to; taught nothing but hatred and contempt. No wonder he seemed so detestable at school, many people probably would be just like him under those circumstances…_

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The next day Draco seemed withdrawn and reluctant to talk. Ginny brought him some food to his room at breakfast but he just nodded his head, ate his food quickly and quietly and then turned his back to her. The same happened at lunch and dinner. "Are you ok?" she asked hesitantly before she went to bed that night. "You've not spoken a word all day." 

"I'm fine." he said without even turning to face her, his throat sounded a little scratchy. "I just need some time to myself. I'm not used to company and I need to think about things."

"Ok, but I'm here if you need to talk." Ginny said before retiring to her room. As she got changed into one of her brother's old t-shirts she wondered what was to be done about him. After everything that she had been through in her first year of Hogwarts she had decided that instead of shrinking in on herself she would be strong and try to find good in all situations, something that Dumbledore had told her he thoroughly approved of. _"Always fight for love, truth and goodness my girl. Never give up hope and always try to be strong, especially for those who cannot be strong themselves. Love really does conquer all you know." S_he hated to see people in pain or upset but she didn't know how to get Malfoy to open up. He was a mystery to her...

Ginny woke halfway through the night and it took her a moment to realise why; next door Draco was talking in his sleep again. She pushed her mane of fiery hair out of her face, shuffled over to her desk and picked up a potion that caused a dreamless sleep. She slipped her feet into her pink fluffy slippers that clashed shamelessly with her hair and took the potion into the other room with the intention of waking Draco and offering him some. But as soon as she walked near his bed he stopped his moaning and seemed to relax.

"You came! I was searching for you." He mumbled before rolling over. His shoulders relaxed and his breathing slowed.

Ginny's heart went out to the slumbering form; she tucked his discarded covers around him once again and thought about the situation. _I'll have to offer him some potion tomorrow. He can't go on like this and neither can I! A decent night's sleep would do most of us a lot of good… I wonder who he thinks I am in his dreams?_ She made her way back to her bed and spent the night having strange dreams about living in Draco's nightly visions as all manner of different people and creatures.

* * *

The next morning came and Ginny decided to talk to Draco about the last few nights. She knocked hesitantly on his door and when she got no answer gently pushed it open. No one was there. 

_Well, I guess it's a relief,_ she thought; _how do you start a conversation with Draco Malfoy about his dreaming of you. _She went to leave and reached for the handle of the door when the whole thing swung inwards and knocked her off her balance, she landed heavily on the floor and all the breath was knocked from her body

As he pushed the door Draco felt some resistance and heard a thump. He was shocked to see Ginny sitting on the floor gasping desperately for breath. His strong hands gripped her shoulders and he led her to his bed where he sat her down; not knowing what else to do rubbed her back gently between the shoulder blades. After a while she was breathing normally again.

"You winded me!" she laughed as she turned to look at him. Ginny blushed furiously as she realised he was wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Three days worth of her food had helped fill him out a little and she couldn't help but stare at the trail of blond hair that ran from his abdomen to under the towel.

"I know I'm gorgeous but would you mind not drooling on me, I've just showered." He smirked.

"Don't flatter yourself - half starved ferrets are not my type." She shot back as she quickly leaped up from his bed. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something but I can wait until you're dressed. Do you have everything you need? Although with your ego I doubt you need anything but your own company!"

Draco poked his ribs thoughtfully. "Well wench, if you go get me some breakfast then I wouldn't be half starved now would I? I don't know - you're slacking in your duties already." He paused. "Other than that I seem to have been provided with everything I need, albeit poor quality."

"I am not your personal slave Malfoy." Ginny let out a little growl of anger, "I can't believe I came in here to help you. You infuriating, self centred- Gah!" She turned to stomp out the room, stopping herself before she had one of her famous temper tantrums; but Draco was too quick and snaked his hand round her arm before she could leave.

"Weasley quit throwing a strop will you? How come none of you goodie two shoes types can ever find a sense of humour? Did it ever occur to you I'm joking?"

Ginny stood still, astounded. _The ferret actually being witty? Impossible! _"I... You – you're kidding me?" Draco smirked at her. "Yes _weasel_, kidding is another form of joking but I would prefer to say I have a dry sense of humour. Not that anyone _ever_ gets me."

Ginny stood open mouthed until Draco gently pushed her jaw back together with the hand that wasn't still firmly clasped around her arm. "You mean to tell me all these years when you were making fun of me and Ron and the others that you were joking with us?" She asked dubiously.

Draco smirked and ran his fingers through his hair. "Well… no. I'll have to admit that I said all of that because I enjoyed belittling the golden trio and you just happened to be an easy way to get them riled. But the last year I guess I had to grow up a bit. I still have a wicked part of me but personally I think that just makes me all the more attractive. All the girls love a bad boy," he drawled smirking even wider "Although of course, I wouldn't hesitate to point out at any opportunity that your brother is still incredibly stupid." He raised his eyebrow when Ginny burst into laughter at his comment. _Hmm, the littlest weasel might have a sense of humour too_ he thought. _Maybe my enforced stay here could end up more enjoyable than I thought_.

* * *

**This is the first time I've posted a chapter and not had one in hand so it's a bit scary for me! I'll have to make a big effort to get a couple more typed out! There should hopefully be a bit more bonding between the two in the next few chapters.**


	11. More than blood

**I'm having a few problems uploading documents so I hope this works (I copied an existing chapter and then changed it...)**

**Thanks again to all who reviewed. I seem to be having issues replying to you too... I don't think the website likes me much!**

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_Maybe my enforced stay here could end up more enjoyable than I thought_. 

Draco pondered over his conversation with Ginny as he slowly dressed in more black clothes that he had been provided. When the little weasel had shown him the large cupboard that housed all the garments he had been appalled at how many red items were in there. _Bloody Gryffindors._ _How I wish I could go shopping for my own clothes. Although I can't believe I just wished that as I used to find it so laborious!_

As he was lacing his old boots, which he had demanded he kept, Draco suddenly smelled the most wonderful aroma floating into his room and decided he had to investigate where it was coming from. He strode over to the door, threw it open and followed his nose down the rickety stairs…

* * *

Ginny stood in the kitchen, lost in her thoughts as she chopped, diced, stirred, seasoned and performed various other kitchen tasks with ease. She jumped as Tonks poked a finger into her ribs and laughed when Tonks continued to tickle her. 

"A sickle for your thoughts Ginny love?" Tonks asked.

"Oh it's nothing, I was just wondering about Malfoy"

"That boy? Pffft. Ignore him is my suggestion." Tonks pulled a face at his name and not just any face; she turned her hair white blond and her chin stretched to a point. Her eyes changed silver and she pulled a remarkably good Malfoy like sneer. "Malfoy's don't need friends. We're above them don't you know?"

Ginny giggled at her, but swatted at Tonks hands. "Stop it you! He seems ok to me, I think he's grown up a little. I want to see if I can help him."

"Turn him 'good' you mean?" Tonks asked, her face returning to normal. "Wouldn't bother if I were you. It'll never happen. Too much of his dad in him… Mother too if you ask me. Anyway, I promise to play nice if I bump into him, but only for you." She sniffed at the pots and pans bubbling away. "Mmm, smells good. Mind if I grab a sandwich to take with me?"

Ginny paused for a second, remembering Tonks was fairly accident prone. "Erm… sure! There's room over there for you." She said pointing to a counter as far away from her own food preparations as possible. "Where are you going? Everyone seems to be away on some mission these days."

Tonks sighed. "I'm going with Remus to help lock him up for the full moon."

"Still no luck making the wolfsbane potion then?" Ginny asked.

"No, none of us are good enough, Hermione managed to brew a weak version of it that prevented him being quite as ferocious when he changed but he still can't be trusted. Yet another reason to hate Snape." Tonks began throwing ingredients into a large baguette; Ginny peered over her shoulder and wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"You've put pumpkin chips, cheese and jam in there. Did you mean to do that? Because if so you're gross." Ginny giggled.

"Of course I did, I've had this since I was tiny. Mum used to make it for me, it tastes great!"

"I'll take your word for it!" Ginny laughed at her friend's crazy behaviour.

"I'll leave you some to try." Tonks said. She cut some of the baguette off and left it on a plate. She then went into the larder to rummage about for something to wrap her own very large portion in.

Ginny looked up just as Draco waltzed into the room, he had his eyes half closed and was taking big sniffs of air. _Damn he looks good in those clothes. I should really try and get Harry to wear something like that_. She thought.

* * *

Draco followed the breathtaking smell along a couple of winding corridors until he realised that he was headed for the kitchen. He quickened his pace until he reached the door, when he pushed it open the most heavenly aroma enveloped him and he couldn't help but take several deep breaths of it. 

He spotted Ginny and stalked over to her. "What's that smell? It's amazing." He asked.

She gave a small laugh. "It could be lots of things Malfoy, it happens to be baking day today so I've lots on the go. Apple crumble, Jam roly-poly, pumpkin pie, steak pie, chicken casserole, butterscotch tart, chocolate cake, four different types of bread, a vegetable soup and your breakfast!" She finished, slightly breathlessly.

"Porridge?" Draco asked expectantly. Ginny laughed at him. _Why is she always so happy_ he thought. _She's always smiling or laughing so freely. _

"No, I though your stomach could probably take something a little richer than porridge now. Don't worry I'm sure it will be just as pleasant." She added seeing his face fall a little. "I'll be done in a minute, why don't you grab a seat?"

Instead he wandered round the room kitchen poking in the drawers and nosing in pots. He stopped when he came across the remains of Tonks' sandwich. "Pumpkin chips, jam and cheese. Wow! I love that sandwich, how did you know?" He exclaimed!

Tonks' head whipped its way round the doorway from the larder. "What do you mean you love it?" She demanded. "No one loves it…"

If Draco was shocked at the sudden appearance of the bubblegum coloured witch he did nothing to show it. "For your information my grandmother Druella used to make it for me." He replied haughtily.

Ginny smirked at the shocked look that appeared on Tonks' face. "Well Tonks, looks like you two have more in common than just blood." She noted and was satisfied to finally see Draco register shock on his face.

"What? You mean?" He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Are you my shunned Aunt's daughter, or some other relation?" Draco asked.

"That'd be me" replied Tonks, not looking too happy.

"I've wondered since I was a child who they were but none of my family would talk about the missing relatives much. I just saw all the burned out patches on the family tree and tapestries and wondered who they could be. To be honest I'd often hoped for a male cousin that I could talk to but any relation around my age would have been a welcome break; even if you are a muggle lover with a weird name!" Draco burst out.

"Before you murder him Tonks, I _think_ the last comment was a joke." Ginny said quickly. "Like any of us have normal names though. Harry got lucky!" Ginny said, mainly to herself.

Tonks looked decidedly awkward and her hair had faded to a mousy brown. She turned to face Draco and said "Look, I don't know you but I've hated your side of the family all my life for what they did to my mother. I can't just all of a sudden start liking you or thinking of you as my cousin. But let me think about this and get to know you a bit more and we'll see what happens. OK?"

"Well it's no skin off my nose." Stated Draco abruptly and plonked down on a wooden chair with slightly less than his usual grace.

"Malfoy don't be an arse or she'll never get to see the good side to you." Ginny piped up.

"What good side?" he mumbled, thoroughly unimpressed with the way the conversation had gone. _That'll teach me to be friendly_ he sulked. "Oh stop being a baby or I won't give you any breakfast!" Ginny threatened.

Draco sighed, mumbling something about blackmailing his stomach. He raised himself to his full impressive height and stuck out his hand towards Tonks. "Fine. Look, I probably don't have the same ideals as you and all but it'd be quite nice to find out a bit more about my missing relatives so when you're not busy maybe we could sit down and have a chat."

"Deal." Said Tonks looking slightly happier. "Hey Gin, Hermione might be popping in soon with an update. Can you ask her to give the Wolfsbane potion another go please? I can't stand seeing him like this. I can't believe he's so strong to put up with this for so long."

"Wolfsbane? I can make that." Said Draco. Ginny and Tonks both stared open mouthed at him. "Look... I know I'm gorgeous but I just don't think it right that my cousin drools over me." He smirked.

Tonks got a desperate look in her eye. "Are you winding me up?" she asked.

Draco frowned, "Erm, yeah… I don't really think you were drooling over -"

"NO!" she snapped, "About the Wolfsbane potion?"

"Oh yeah, Lucius had me learn it a few years ago so I could make it for some Death Eater chum he was dealing with. He was too busy to do it himself but far too scared of being bitten so I had to make it and be damned sure it was perfect."

"Make it for me." Tonks demanded.

"Hey wait, have you been infected? Are you a werewolf?" Draco started backing away a little.

"No you idiot, Remus. Please make some." Tonks look turned desperate.

"Well here's your chance to prove your worth Malfoy!" Ginny told him.

Draco stood back and held both hands out in front of him, palms facing the girls. "Now hold on a minute. First off I'm a prisoner here, next you say hate me. Then you're going to think about it and pass judgement on me _if_ I'm up to your standards and now I'm your personal slave. There's nothing in it for me, why should I do it?"

"Malfoy don't be like that. This is your chance to help somebody. To do something good." Ginny said reaching her hand out towards his arm. Draco snatched his arm away. "I already told you I'm not a good guy Weasley. Quit trying to turn me into a stand in until lover boy gets back."

"You could never be Harry's stand in and he is not my lover but that's none of your business. Quit being so stubborn or do I have to hex you to make you see sense?" Ginny spit back at him.

Draco's face changed into a cold mask. "Threats Weasel? Now that's something I've been quite used to these past few weeks. But I doubt you could threaten me with anything even close to the horrific ordeals I've been put through. Try another approach why don't you. Torture certainly won't help."

"What is it that you want Malfoy?" Tonks interjected with a sigh. "You know we can't let you leave if that's what you're after. Remus would rather be locked up again than that. What are your conditions?"

Draco smirked. "Right, I will make your stupid potion on one condition." He paused dramatically, "I want to be allowed to go to Diagon Alley to buy some provisions. If I'm going to be in hiding or faking my own death then I want to be comfortable whilst doing so."

Tonks shook her head. "That's as good as letting you go. We can't do it."

"Wait, I think I know a way it's possible..." Tonks and Draco looked at Ginny hopefully as she continued. "You'll have to give me a minute to check it out but I think with Hermione's new form of Polyjuice potion and a kind of binding spell we can pull this off."

* * *

**I'm not sure if Draco knew about Tonks being his cousin but for the sake of this story he didn't!!**


	12. Polyjuice

**I still can't upload new chapters or click the link to report it so if anyone can help me I'd be most grateful... I have 4 exported chapters to change however so nothing urgent!!**

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"I think with Hermione's new form of Polyjuice potion and a kind of binding spell we can pull this off."

* * *

He didn't know why but Draco trusted her to arrange things so he could have his way. He knew he had been childish and mean to get what he wanted but he wouldn't want to risk losing an opportunity for a bit of freedom, however small. 

"Ok Ferret, I've got it sorted." Came a mumbled voice from beneath a great mound of fiery hair. Ginny lifted her head from where she had been frantically scribbling out notes. "Hermione came up with a way to make polyjuice potion anonymous. What I mean is that instead of making you look like a certain person it will just change your appearance so you look like no one in general. Like a random disguise. So that's one part of the problem sorted. No one will recognise us so no death eater worries." She noticed Draco raised his eyebrows when she said 'us'

"And that obviously brings me to the second problem. You running away. Now despite your little tantrum earlier I really don't think you're likely to want to leave when we're going to try and help you out but just in case I have this little spell. It's basically a binding spell that means you can't go more that 15 foot away from the person who cast it. Which is going to be me as I'm stuck being your minder. So you won't be able to run away but you'll still have enough space to go to the loo and stuff."

"What if I kidnapped you Weasley?" asked Draco looking mildly amused.

"Firstly, you won't have a wand and I will; secondly you have a magical bond with me that means you won't hurt me or put me in danger and finally I've got 6 older brothers so if you try anything funny I _will_ kick your arse..." She finished with a flourish. Draco laughed out loud.

"Wow Malfoy, I think that's possibly the first time I've even seen you laugh in a non malicious way!" Ginny teased him.

"I can't help it if no one I know has a decent enough sense of humour to amuse me now can I little weasel?" he smirked. Ginny picked up the notebook she'd been writing in and moved over to where Draco had set up a desk with potions and a large cauldron and flame. "I'll take that as a compliment seeing as I made you laugh where everyone else failed... and don't even _think_ to contradict me! Now show me how to make this potion."

"Why? It will be quicker if I just brew it myself. Plus you need to instill a certain amount of your own magic to brew the potion. You have to be good enough..." Draco asked.

"I know that Malfoy but you won't be here forever to brew it will you and I can hopefully try to learn it and _maybe_ teach Tonks. Although I'm not sure she's too good with potions…"

"Fine, but don't get in my way." Draco started pulling out and weighing ingredients all the while telling Ginny what he was doing which she made careful notes of. It was a very long and complicated potion and Ginny's hand felt ready to fall off by the time Draco said "Now it has to brew for 2 hours before we can add the final ingredients. How about you tell me what it was you were so desperate to talk to me about... although I think it was just an excuse to witness my naked body."

"Keep dreaming Ferret." Ginny said, rubbing her hand to get some life back.

"Was it about my fath- Lucius? You said you would tell me what he had done to you? I haven't forgotten." Draco asked.

"No it wasn't, but I do have to explain about that. I really am loathing the thought of it but a promise is a promise. No I actually wanted to talk to you about something else… I wondered if you would like a sleepless dream potion." Ginny hoped he wouldn't ask too many questions about how she knew he wasn't sleeping well.

"What do you mean Weasley? Why would I want that?" Draco asked. She felt a little embarrassed but carried on anyway. "Well, you've been having bad dreams and talking in your sleep. I'm right next door so I could hear you talking in your sleep."

"Impossible. Malfoys do _not_ talk in their sleep. We'd have been murdered in our beds if we did! I've far more self control than that!"

"Look, I. I'm sorry but you were dreaming about your mother. After the trauma you've been through I'm not surprised that you've let your guard slip a little. Grief is a hard emotion to control, especially when you're unconscious." Ginny looked up at him and saw a softness in his eyes that she hadn't seen before.

"Yes... I have been dreaming about my mother a lot. But I don't want a potion. You can silence my room if you like instead." Draco ran his fingers slowly through his hair, a dream-like expression on his face.

"Why wouldn't you want to stop dreaming about it? I thought you were dreaming about her being mur- Well it didn't seem a nice dream at any rate." Ginny asked concerned. Draco gave a big sigh. "It's kind of hard to let go of her, even if it is just a dream. And… Well if you must know I keep on dreaming of someone that comes and soothes me, they take all my worries away. It's nice to have that feeling, I wake up refreshed somehow."

"Oh Draco!" Ginny cried. His head lifted at the use of his first name. "I'm so sorry but it's _me_!"

"What?" he asked perplexed.

"Well for the past 3 nights when I heard you moaning I came into your room to try and soothe you. The first night I think you thought I was your mother but when I told you your Mother had gone to a better place on the second night you thanked me."

Draco looked utterly dumbfounded. "You?! But why, I barely know you?"

"Well Malfoy, it's actually a really common thing for patient to feel a bond to their healers for a while after they've been magically cured."

"A bond?" Malfoy muttered. "Of course. It's probably the magical bond formed when you saved my life. I thought for one moment there you were going to suggest I had taken a liking to you!" Ginny smirked at him "No worries about that Malfoy. I know I'm never going to be the object of your attraction!... Anyway, have a think about the dreamless sleep potion but for now we've still got well over an hour to kill before the wolfsbane is ready so I guess I might as well spill the beans on the worst year of my life…"

Draco listened in shock as her story unfolded. He couldn't believe how much anguish his father had put the girl through and yet she was this smiling happy person. "How are you so well balanced Weasley?" he asked when she had finished, not without a few tears.

"Please, call me Ginny. I can't stand Weasley. It's too formal for the situation we're in."

"OK… Ginny. How come you aren't either miserable or psycho or something?" he asked again. She pressed her lips together in thought. "Well I decided that I didn't want to be controlled by anyone ever again, so why should I let his actions control my emotions. Why let my someone affect me so much that it would ruin my basic nature and make me someone I wouldn't be happy being. Dumbledore helped me an awful lot. It's a shame you couldn't have got to know him better. Despite what you've been brought up to think he really was an excellent wizard and a magnificent man."

"You're probably right. Recently I sometimes wonder what to believe, even the thoughts in my brain. I mean, are they really what I feel or just something that's been planted in my head by my fa- by Lucius… Anyway, we really should get on with the potion now or it will over-brew."

Ginny watched his hair fall over his eyes as he started preparing the remaining ingredients. It needed a cut but it was certainly an improvement on his old slicked back style. "Harry would be so jealous you know!" she told him. "Why, of me spending so much time with you?" Draco asked.

"No silly, because he's always struggled in potions... without cheating anyway," she added mystically. "And here are you concocting this fabulously difficult potion from your head. No notes or anything!"

"Do you love him?" Draco asked suddenly.

"What?" said Ginny, shocked.

"Well you talk about him a lot and I thought there was something going on between you. Plus I am notoriously nosey. I've always liked to have all the information and gossip I can lay my hands on. You'd be surprised how much of it comes in handy. Anyway, answer the question. Do you love 'the boy who won't die'?"

"Of course I do." She snapped.

"I don't mean like a brother or a best friend. I mean are you in love with him. Does the thought of him drive you wild and does your skin tingle when he touches you?"

"I… I don't know" Ginny murmured, trying to think if her skin tingled the last time she'd been touched by Harry. She tried to make light of the question. "Anyway I'm far too sensible to let the thought of him drive me wild. I'd get nothing done!"

"Then it's obvious you don't love him. It's either a childish infatuation or just lust." Draco said nonchalantly as he threw the final ingredient in. He nodded his head towards the potion, "Are you making a note of this?"

"What do you mean it's obvious?" Ginny squealed, quite annoyed "What would you know of love anyway? While I'm sure you've got many notches on your bed post you've never seemed to be an expert on love."

"Not me no. But my mother was. She said that the person she was meant to be with died a long time ago and although she loved Lucius in her own way I don't think he was ever quite what she wanted. She was just happy to have power, money and a son I guess. She said that she wanted me to find someone I loved to settle down with. She didn't seem to think I'd be happy otherwise... As if I could fall in love! Can you imagine how high my standards are! All the girls I've dated have been complete pushovers."

"Was she nice?" Ginny asked, hoping to change the conversation from her feelings for Harry.

"My mother? Difficult question Wea- Ginny. Probably not by your standards, after all she did believe a lot of what I was taught by Lucius, even though she refused to become a death eater. Who knows what excuses Lucius had to give Voldemort to get her off? She was nice to me though. I was her precious little boy... Ok she could be a bit smothering sometimes but to be honest I craved the attention. She loved me _so_ much and I've never had that from anywhere else. I'd do almost anything to get that back." He sighed.

Ginny gave his arm a gentle squeeze to show him how sorry she felt for him. Draco looked thankful for her comfort but far from happy. "The potion's done. Run it down to Tonks would you? I need a rest. Oh and W-Ginny?"

"Yeah?"

"This is really hard for me to say, but I want you to know that I disagree with what he did to you."

"Your father?" Ginny asked.

"He's not my father anymore. He never really was one to me. More of a bad master that I've finally escaped from." He wouldn't look her in the eye as he tidied up the ingredients.

"Thanks Mal-Draco. It means a lot to me, especially from you... I'll see you at lunch yeah? I'll do something as soon as I've given this to Tonks"

"If it smells as good as the breakfast I never got then I'm there." He said with a wry smile.

* * *

Ginny carried the large metal goblet carefully towards Remus and Tonks' room thinking over what Draco had said. _Of course I love Harry… don't I? S_he thought_. He's sweet and kind and thoughtful. Well no, not thoughtful but he means well. All that stuff Draco said was romantic nonsense. His poor mother must have been looking back at her old love through rose tinted glasses I reckon. Anyway, I don't know why I let Draco get to me so much. He's only trying to wind me up and it's not as if Harry and I are even together any more. _She decided to put the whole thing out of her mind. 

Remus was overjoyed with the potion and asked Ginny to pass on his thanks and praise to Draco. She hurried down to the kitchen and wondered what Draco would like best. She figured he deserved a treat after all the hard work he'd put into the potion.

He sauntered into the kitchen a short while later, drawn by the smell of food. "So Ginny," he said. Ready for a little shopping excursion tomorrow?"


	13. Friends?

**I can upload again! woohoo! **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I would like to send you all more personal thanks but I'm trying to squeeze so many different things into my time that it's a choice of write to you or write another chapter. I'm hoping that you'd prefer another chapter! (Plus if I have _any_ spare time I'd quite like to R&R your stories!)**

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**Thanks guys :) **

**On with the story...**

**

* * *

**"So Ginny," he said. Ready for a little shopping excursion tomorrow?"

* * *

"You want to go so soon?" Ginny asked him. 

"Yes of course. Why waste any time? Can you have the potion ready or do you need me to help again?!" Draco teased.

Ginny poked her tongue out at him. "We've always got some on hand for emergencies, mainly for patients who need to escape quickly without detection. I can cast the binding spell whenever so yeah we can go tomorrow. I need to pick some stuff up anyway so it's quite handy."

"Do you have any parchment? I want to write a list of things to buy." Draco asked.

"Sure, I'll grab some for you; it's a good idea actually."

Ginny and Draco settled down at the big oak table with an assortment of food and each started writing a list. Draco noticed as he picked up his third pumpkin pasty that Ginny was peering over at his list. "Hey, stop looking over my shoulder!" he cried and twisted in his seat so she couldn't see.

"No fair, I'm finished and bored. Let me see what you're buying?" she tried to reach her head over his shoulder but he twisted away again. Ginny giggled and reached under his arm trying to snatch the paper away but he was just too quick for her, he stood up and lifted his arm above his head so she couldn't reach it. Ginny stood on her tiptoes and stretched as high as she could to no avail, she tried jumping but he was just too tall.

Draco was finding this little game quite amusing but the feeling of the flame haired girl pressing against him so tightly was a bit off-putting. Parts of her were rubbing against him as she jumped and he didn't quite know how to react as she was obviously too preoccupied trying to get the parchment to be aware of all the places she was pressing her body into him.

"C'mon, you're too tall. You have an unfair advantage." Ginny moaned and clambered on one of the wooden chairs in a desperate attempt to get to his list.

The chair rocked and she lost her balance as it tipped over. Draco managed to catch her but the force pushed him backwards. He struggled to stay upright but fell into one of the stuffed armchairs by the fireplace.

Both of their weight combined was too much for the chair and for the second time Ginny felt a chair topple under her...

It was in this state that Hermione caught them as she walked into the kitchen. Draco was flat on his back and Ginny was laying rather suggestively on top of him with her chest squashed into his face. Red and blond hair was all intermingled with the ash from the hearth.

"What on earth is going on?" Hermione screeched.

Ginny pushed herself up and burst into a fit of giggles when she saw Hermione's face. "We… I, you-" She tried, before laughing even harder. Tears of merriment started to fall down her cheeks.

Draco finally pulled himself up from the floor, casually righted the chair and brushed soot and dust from his clothes. When he deemed himself to be suitably cleaned off he drawled "Ginny threw herself at me. Don't blame her; it's my pure sexual attraction. If you stay for too long you might end up doing it too." He managed to keep perfectly straight face.

"I would never, EVER… Ginny wouldn't-" Hermione spluttered.

"Stop." gasped Ginny. "Too funny, can't breathe!" She doubled over shaking with laughter and finally sat on the floor when she could take no more. Even Draco had a smirk on his face.

Hermione calmed herself down a little and cast a spell on Ginny to stop her laughter. "Right, will you please explain what is going on here?"

"Sorry 'Mione. I fell from the chair and Draco caught me but I'm obviously a great lump or he's not bulked up enough because he couldn't hold me and we fell over. Nothing sinister is going on!"

Draco took offence at that comment. "I would have had to have been built like Hagrid to have held you. Not that you're heavy" he added quickly "You just fell pretty hard that's all. Lucky you had a soft landing or you might have hurt yourself!"

"You're not exactly soft Malfoy" Ginny said poking him in his stomach. "Muscle is not soft!"

Hermione coughed "If you're quite done. I just popped in quickly to drop these off." She handed Ginny a large envelope. "Can you hand that to Remus when he gets back from his trip please?"

"Oh 'Mione. Draco made wolfsbane so Remus won't have to go away yet after all. I mean he'll have to eventually to get more info from the other ware-"

"Ginny. Be careful what you say." Warned Hermione with a nod towards Draco.

"Oh, sorry!" Ginny blushed.

Hermione looked at Draco again. "Well... if that's true then I guess you deserve some congratulations. You achieved something that I couldn't. Anyway, I have to run. I can't stay. Ginny can I have a word please?" she dragged Ginny into the hallway and closed the door behind her. "Don't get too close to him Ginny. I still don't trust him. Please be careful? And I would suggest Remus checks out that potion in some way before he drinks it."

"It's fine Hermione. He made the potion in front of me and there was nothing that could poison Remus. I'm not being stupid but… well; I guess we're becoming friends. He's not the same person he was before. He's grown a little."

Hermione scoffed at this. "What would Harry think Ginny? Do you think he'd be happy knowing that his girl was here with a Malfoy practically making out?"

"We were NOT making out Hermione. I told you what happened. As for Harry, I'm not his girl. He gave me up remember. Do you expect me to sit here pining over him forever? I've spent too long mooning over him... If all goes well then we will see what happens but I'll not let any one dictate to me how I live my life."

"He cares for you Ginny. That's why he let you go - to keep you out of trouble."

Ginny sighed "Trouble is everywhere. Even though we would have been apart physically we could still have been together as a couple, but he wanted to end it all completely. I know he's a great guy Hermione and he's your best friend but I need a bit of space to think about it all ok?"

Hermione sighed and decided to drop the conversation for now. "OK Gin, but I still think it would be sensible for Remus to go away just for the first night to make sure the potion works… Look I've got to go. I'll see you at Bill's wedding yeah?"

Ginny brightened up a little. "Of course! I'm going to go shopping for stuff tomorrow! I'll see you there... And I'll suggest what you said to Remus although I don't think there's any need." The girls hugged and went their separate ways. Hermione back to her friends; Ginny to the kitchen and Draco.

"Warned you off me did she?" He asked as soon as the door was closed.

"Not really. More of a girly chat that's all" Ginny said. "Hey - are you reading my list?"

"Maybe!" he smirked. "Whose wedding is it you're buying all this stuff for?" Ginny snatched her list back. "My big brother's. Now you _have_ to let me look at yours."

"Fine weasel, here you are." He held out the parchment but snatched it back when she reached for it. Ginny stamped her foot and Draco laughed and finally handed the list over.

"We need to go to lots of the same places. That's handy." She commented. "Ok, I'm going to go and get stuff ready for tomorrow. Catch you at dinner."

"I'll see you then..." Draco sat in the kitchen for a while after Ginny had left, thinking over the events of that morning. He'd learned a lot about the littlest weasel and told her a lot that he probably couldn't have said to anyone else; he was reluctantly beginning to think of her as a friend. It was a strange emotion and he found it hard to deal with.

"_Never let anyone have a hold on your feelings…They will always use that against you. You need no-one but yourself..." _The words that his father had told him over and over rose unbidden into his mind.

_Well that settles it _Draco thought_. I'm going to be friends with her to prove to myself that Lucius can't tell me what to do any more... _


	14. Red and blonde

**I had a bit of free time this afternoon so did actually reply to reviews for once!! **

**harrypotterchick4ever I can't reply to you but thanks for the review. I have a very quiet time at work so I've been trying to keep writing regularly.**

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_Well that settles it Draco thought. I'm going to be friends with her to prove to myself that Lucius can't tell me what to do any more... _

* * *

The next morning he was still finding it hard to come to terms with his decision. _What do I know about being friends? All of my old friends were just mindless fools and I just had to order them about... Am I going to make an arse out of myself?_ He worried. He hadn't seen Ginny at dinner the night before, she'd just left a note with his food saying that she was helping Tonks with something and she'd see him early the next morning in the medical room. 

He sat in the room that had been his first experience of the house, fiddling with a silver chain around his neck. When Ginny walked in he jumped up and bowed courteously to her. "Good morning Ginny. How are you today?" He asked in what he hoped was an upbeat way.

"I'm fine Draco and, erm... Good morning to you too! You're certainly chipper today, looking forward to getting out of this stuffy house for a while?"

Draco tried to keep up the friendly tone he had adopted; he added a grin for good measure. "I most certainly am Ginny. And I hope you are too. It will be a fine day."

"Ok Malfoy, what's up?" Ginny asked.

"What do you mean?" Draco said, worried that he had blown his chance of friendship already.

Ginny couldn't decide whether to be worried or amused at his behaviour. "You're acting weird, all jovial and it's not like you. Are you nervous about something?"

Draco paused before answering, unsure of what excuse to make. Instead he did something that he wasn't too used to - he told the truth. "I thought that I should make an effort to be friendly with you seeing as we're spending a lot of time together but I guess I'm not doing too well."

Ginny couldn't help but smile at the look or concern on his face. She'd never have imagined Draco Malfoy would be worried about making an impression. "Draco did it never enter your head that I might want to be friends the person you are normally and not some act?"

"Actually, no... I didn't think you would like me as me." He said a little hesitantly.

"Well I do, you're like a breath of fresh air. You don't seem to be all doom and gloom and you're a challenge – in a good way. It's nice to talk to you and not worry you're going to baby me that's all. You treat me like an adult. So drop this act, be yourself and let get shopping!" Ginny didn't give Draco a chance to argue; she pointed her wand at him and said "redimio nos" with a quick flick of her wrist. A white line appeared from her wand, it wound its way around Draco's waist and then came back to do the same to Ginny before fading away. "Ok, now to test it I'm going to try and get to the bottom of the stairs and see what happens. Don't move ok?"

She ran to the bottom of the steps but when she was a few from the bottom she felt a pull around her waist and couldn't go any further. She made her way back to the room.

"I guess that tugging feeling means it worked?" Draco asked. "Yup." She replied. "And now it's time for the gross part... Polyjuice! It tastes revolting and doesn't feel too nice but it will mean we're safely disguised for about 10 hours, so we can spend most of the day out if we wanted to. I certainly need a break from this house!"

She handed Draco a goblet full of the foul tasting liquid. "Bottoms up!" she said before upending the goblet and pouring the contents in her mouth. Draco paused only momentarily before copying her; it was worth drinking the disgusting substance to get out for a while.

Both of them gagged and held their stomachs. "I hate this." Ginny muttered as she curled up on the floor. Draco looked at his hands and saw his skin bubbling like it was boiling. He told himself to calm down and that it would all be over soon but the feeling that his skin was being stretched and squashed at the same time was very disconcerting.

After a few moments and much groaning and swearing from the two of them Ginny finally sat up. "I'm glad that's over!" she muttered before laughing out loud at Draco.

He turned to look at her and was shocked at how different she looked; apart from her features changing, her hair had transformed into a short blond bob and her eyes were a bright blue. Her own father wouldn't have known it was her. "What's so funny weasel?" Draco asked.

"Oh this is just fantastic!" She giggled. "What are the chances…Have a look for yourself…" She rummaged in a drawer and pulled out a hand mirror. When Draco looked he nearly dropped it. "NO!!" he cried. "Anything but that!"

Ginny laughed again - Draco's hair had turned a vivid shade of red. "Welcome to the family I guess" she laughed. "It's only temporary, don't look so pouty. Do you want to go shopping or not?"

"I'm not so sure anymore. No offence but red really isn't my colour."

"Would you have preferred green hair? I think that may have been a little conspicuous! Now come on you great sulker." Ginny grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the fireplace. "We will have to floo together, it's quite tricky but I've done it once before. Hold tight!" she felt a little shy but pressed her body close against his, wrapped one arm around his warm body and held the powder out. "Diagon Alley" she shouted and threw the powder down.

They nearly fell out of the fireplace at the other end, Draco managed to hold them up and keep his balance. "You ok Ginny?" he asked quietly. She nodded her head. "We have to remember not to use each others names today ok?" he said. "I would suggest making up some nicknames but we'd probably forget them or wouldn't respond which may look suspicious…"

"Well I can always call you ferret if I need you quickly. I don't think many people would understand that. Only people that we would recognise anyway!!"

"Fine, then I get to call you weasel!" Draco said.

"You always do anyway!" Ginny giggled. "Where do you wanna go first?"

"Actually I need to ask you a favour." Draco said. "I have a key to my vault in Gringotts on this chain but it's been charmed invisible. I need to you change it back for me seeing as I have no wand. Then I can get my money."

Ginny looked a little worried. "Isn't that dangerous? The goblins won't recognise you and what if someone hears you asking for your vault?"

"No it's fine. I'll ask for a private meeting with Ragnok. It's all very secure as they take a magic oath to never give out a client's information."

"Well… OK, I guess. I'll take the charm off for you, which one did you use?"

Within a few moments Ginny had changed the key so it was visible and they were walking toward the big white building that towered above them.

"It feels strange to be out again." Draco said as he held the bronze outer doors open for Ginny. "But it's so nice not to have to worry about how I behave; with this disguise I feel like I can actually be me and not be anxious about who is watching... I feel properly free for the first time in my life."

Ginny turned to him and smiled. "I'm glad you feel like that. I'm going to make sure we make the most out of today then. We're going to have a blast!


	15. Madam Malkin's

**I think the next two (possibly 3) chapters will be about the shopping trip, I want to get some more bonding between them but also a bit of action! **

**I'm trying to add quite a lot of detail into the chapters - as I was asked to ;) – but it's meant that this has turned out to be a very long chapter. **

**Do please stick with it and hopefully you'll be rewarded in the next one (Yes I have something up my sleeve and I'm desperate to start writing it but still don't feel they're chummy enough for it to happen believably in this chapter!!) **

**Thanks again for reviews, they make me smile! (although I'm not getting any notification of them on my hotmail. Nor any when I update so I might be missing notification of your chapters too... Anyone else having this problem?)

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Ginny turned to him and smiled. "I'm glad you feel like that. I'm going to make sure we make the most out of today then. We're going to have a blast!"

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They walked through the second, silver set of Gringotts doors and headed for an available counter. 

"I would like to have a private meeting with Ragnok please. It won't take long." Draco said in a commanding voice to the goblin that was seated there.

"One moment Sir." He replied and disappeared into a back room for a few moments. "You are in luck Sir, Ragnok will see you."

"Thank you." Draco said with a courteous nod of his head. "This way" he said guiding Ginny to a room that he had visited many times with his parents. In that room sat a large and incredibly astute looking goblin, he was surrounded by ledgers, magical abacuses, quills, ink pots and many secure boxes and keys.

Once Draco had explained who he was and produced his key Ragnok called for another elf. "Krignar," he said in his creaky voice. "Take these guests to vault number 5. Speak to no one about their identity." The new goblin swallowed rapidly and nodded his head several times. "Number 5, yes sir… Follow me please Sir, Madam…"

As they followed the goblin down several windy dark passageways Ginny whispered to Draco "Vault number 5? That must be ancient. How have you managed to get such an old vault?"

"The Black name is extremely old, hence the vault number. Lucius made sure he took full advantage of using the influence Mother's name could bring him. Add that with the Malfoy name and that amounts to lots of money and power. The Malfoys are a very old French family but our part of the family has lived here for generations since one of my ancestors was married to an English witch to keep the blood pure." Draco took her hand to help her into a very old looking and unstable cart which looked like it would follow a rail which travelled almost vertically down.

Ginny paused for a second before stepping in. "Won't your Father be mad that you took his money?" she asked, looking around her nervously. Visions of an angry Lucius Malfoy jumping out at her from dark corners suddenly filled her mind. She shivered

"He has no choice in the matter as it's not his money anymore. The ministry of Magic handed all control of the money and deeds etc to my mother when Lucius was put in Azkaban. I know that her will leaves everything to me. So everything is mine… Malfoy Manor is too but I would imagine that's over-run with Death Eaters by now." The cart sped off with a rumble and slowly built up speed until Ginny's new blond hair was streaming out behind her. Draco looked at her and saw she was shaking. He put his arm round her and felt goosebumps on her forearms, he felt an urge to protect the little witch. "Are you cold Ginny, do you want my jumper?"

"No, but thanks. I'm just a bit nervous of what or who could be hiding down here."

"Ginny, you are one of the scariest witches I've ever met, saving my Aunt but I think she's deranged… You have nothing to worry about!"

"Please don't talk about your Aunt that flippantly. She killed members of the order. I'd be more scared of meeting her down here than your father."

"I'm sorry." Draco sighed heavily. "It's not easy getting used to being with relatively normal people and not criminally insane family members all trying to worm their way into your brain. Look, we're here now - let's forget about it." He took her hand and helped her out of the cart, he had after all been taught to have impeccable manners when the situation arose.

The entrance to the vault was a giant wooden door with heavy iron hinges and locks; it had many shapes and inscriptions scrawled across what looked to be about half a tree. Krignar let out a guttural command and ran both of his hands over different etches in the wood; Draco turned his key in the lock and Ginny couldn't help but gasp when the door split jaggedly down the middle and the pieces drew back into the wall revealing the biggest pile of Galleons, sickles and knuts she had ever seen, or even imagined.

"Your jaw is going to hit the floor if it goes any lower Weasel." Draco smirked. He walked into the vault, took a bag off a peg on the wall and started filling it with money. "That should do." He murmured. Ginny was still in awe of the vast amounts of money, she was desperately trying not to feel jealous remembering the many times her family had gone short. Draco noticed a strange look in her eyes and guessed correctly what was bothering her.

"If it's any consolation Weasel, I'd swap every last knut of it for my Mother's life. You have a lot to be thankful for." Ginny looked at Draco in a new light. "You're right. I have... Thanks." She said gently squeezing his hand.

"Ok, let shop!" Draco said, trying to lighten the mood.

They made their way out of Gringotts and Draco led the way to Flourish and Blotts where he bought a good many books on all manner of subject, although the overriding choice seemed to be potions books. "It's something that soothes me. Plus I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands." He commented when Ginny observed that was his fourth potions book. Ginny bought a book on fashions through the ages. "For my brother's fiancée. She loves fashion!" And a book on counter curses. "For my brother. It might come in handy."

They then went to the cauldron shop where Draco bought a couple of different sized cauldrons, stirrers and measuring spoons. Ginny sighed wistfully as they passed the boarded up Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour. "It's just not the same with his shop closed. It really brings you down to earth the fact that danger is everywhere. Still at least the ministry have upped the security measures."

Draco manoeuvred her away from the window and walked slowly to Madam Malkin's. "Surely this will cheer you up. Girls love clothes shopping don't they?"

"I guess. I'm just glad the potion was altered so you can keep the same size figure - otherwise I'd never get the right clothes! Hmm, thinking about it…you have impeccable taste, you can help me choose a bridesmaid dress for the wedding! It has to be silver. I think she wants us to look like fairies!" Ginny giggled.

Draco took charge as soon as they were in the shop, sweet talking Madam Malkin into fetching the two of them cool drinks and fawning over them while they browsed the vast selection of robes and other clothes. He pointed Ginny in the direction of the evening robes and gowns where she could browse at ease as the shop was currently deserted.

Draco had a large pile of clothes at the counter and had been measured for several sets of robes by the time Ginny had got half way through the rail of dresses. "Why are you scrutinising each dress? Just take some and try them on." Draco asked.

"I'm no good at this." She whined. "It's not as if I get new clothes often so I don't know what to pick. It has to be special or Fleur will think I've made no effort but it can't be as nice as her dress or she would murder me. Although I imagine her dress will be spectacular so no chance of that!"

"This is the one then." Stated Draco pulling a long silver dress out of a rail Ginny had already walked past. She could have sworn the dress wasn't there before.

"That?! I don't know?" She bit her bottom lip. Draco sighed and forced her towards the fitting rooms. "Try it on and trust me. It will be ideal." A couple of minutes later and Ginny walked out of the changing room with a look of reverie on her face. "Oh D... Ferret I mean! It's perfect! But it really clashes with my hair." she worried, tugging on a strand of blond hair. Draco lent in and whispered "Your hair won't be that colour you fool. This Fleur knows what she's doing by the sound of it."

He stepped back, looked at Ginny twirling round in the dress and agreed with her - it was perfect on her. Her figure was hugged in all the right places by the shimmering silver satin and he thought she looked divine.

The corseted top had a very low cut neckline but a soft swathe of pearlised chiffon covered in tiny iridescent crystals ruched around the bosom so you could imagine, but not quite see her cleavage. The boning accentuated her tiny waist perfectly and then the dress flowed out into a floor length full skirt. Both the ribbon at the back of the corset and the organza overlay of the skirt were set with the same crystals and it looked like a thousand tiny stars were shining out from the dress.

"Oh my dear. That dress is simply divine. But with your colouring I would go for it in a blue." Madam Malkin said when she spotted Ginny looking as if she was floating on air.

"She's dying her hair. This will be perfect. We will take it." Draco told her, Madam Malkin bustled over to the counter and waved her wand, the dress stared being wrapped in tissue paper.

"Now all you need are shoes, gloves, underwear and jewellery." Draco told Ginny… She came out of her daydream suddenly. "Oh, but I don't have the money. Fleur and Bill could only afford a certain amount. I've got some of my own money but that's meant to be for their wedding gift and a few other items… I'll have to look for something cheaper or wear old shoes and stuff."

"Ginny, you've seen the amount of money I have. You don't have to worry about it."

"I couldn't accept your money." Ginny bristled at the idea of charity. "You won't be able to see my shoes under the skirt anyway and I have a necklace at home. I'm perfectly fine thank you."

"Nonsense." Draco told her. "Don't go all prickly on me now. If you're getting funny about taking money then let's say it's a trade for all the fantastic food you've been making me?"

"Oh, so now you're trying to pay me like a servant. You can't buy me!" Ginny hissed at him, aware that Madam Malkin was waiting for them at the counter.

"Don't be so ridiculous. Can't you just accept it as a present from… from a friend? I've never been able to use my money for anything nice and I want to treat you. Now don't be stubborn because you will start to annoy me."

Ginny didn't know what to do, of course she would love to be treated to all manner of gifts but she had been brought up with a strong sense of independence and it would go against everything she believed to take charity. "I don't know if I can accept that. I don't want you to feel like you have to take pity on me." She shook her head.

"Gods you're so infuriating woman. I'm not used to being argued with… I don't pity you. If you have to have my last strands of dignity then you may as well know you're the only person that really wants to spend time with me. No one else trusts me and I want to say thank you. Now can you just accept that and stop being so bloody obstinate."

Draco stalked over to the counter and started talking to Madam Malkin about clothes trunks. The squat owner of the shop nodded and made her way to the back of the shop. A few moments later Draco felt a small hand rest on top of his as it lay on the counter, he looked round and saw Ginny staring at him with unfamiliar blue eyes.

"I'm sorry Draco, it's hard for me to accept gifts but I realise you're doing it for a nice reason. So I guess I'll let you treat me - this once."

"Finally you've come to your senses." Draco drawled. "I'm going to take you shopping in style. This is going to blow your socks off!"


	16. Saved by a kiss

"Finally you've come to your senses." Draco drawled. "I'm going to take you shopping in style. This is going to blow your socks off!"

* * *

They paid for their goods in Madam Malkin's and she packed them all into special travel trunks which shrunk right down to small, very light parcels. Draco led the way outside where they both blinked in the sun after being in the shaded shop. 

"Lunch I think. Hopefully this will make up for no Fortescue's..." Draco said and walked Ginny to a small alley which revealed a tiny little restaurant with several beautifully coloured pot plants outside and ivy climbing up the walls. He opened the door which made a lovely tinkling noise and held it open for Ginny to walk through. When she stepped in she could see lots of small tables set in niches in the walls. They had candles and flowers on each table but before she could take in any more detail a wizened old man walked up to them and asked if they would like a table.

"Yes please, is there a garden table free at all?" Draco asked.

"Why certainly young sir, follow me." The man said with a bow. They followed him out into a tiny courtyard garden smothered in flowers, they were the only patrons. He produced a menu to hand to them but Draco said. "Thank you Marco but I already know what we will be ordering - if that's ok with you?" he finished looking at Ginny who nodded.

"Sir, do we know each other? Have you visited us before?" The old man asked with a smile.

Draco thought quickly for an explanation. "I… have heard wonderful things about you! Could we have two house pâtés, a salad to share and two of your special cordials please?" Marco's quick-quill noted their order and with another bow he set off at a surprisingly sprightly pace for one so old looking.

"Where did you hear about this place? I never knew it was here!" Ginny exclaimed excitedly.

"My mother used to bring me here. Lucius hated it; he thought it beneath us as it wasn't on his list of 'places to be seen at' but it was one of the many things she put her foot down about."

Ginny got up and wandered around the little garden, sniffing at the flowers and laughing at the tiny little birds that sat on the tops of the surrounding walls singing to each other. As Draco watched her he thought how nicely the sun would have caught her hair if it was still red. He imagined how it would reflect the light and look like a river of fire.

Ginny turned and caught him looking at her; she smiled and came back to the table. "Draco, it's so beautiful here. Thank you for bringing me." She said and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

Draco touched his cheek gently where her lips had touched him and felt a warm feeling spread through him. The only person who had ever kissed him in kindness before had been his mother and all other girls that kissed him were doing it purely out of passion or greed. Even though Ginny's kiss had been friendly and there was no suggestion of anything more there, he thought it was the sweetest kiss he'd ever had. _I'm glad I decided to make an effort to be her friend_.

Lunch went well; Ginny and Draco found it easy to keep up a light conversation, they felt at ease in each other's company and actually had a lot of things in common. _I have more shared interests and experiences with Draco than I had with Harry._ Ginny thought briefly, not realising that she had thought of her relationship with Harry in a past tense.

Draco took charge and showed Ginny a whole new side to Diagon Alley and its many little side streets. They went to so many shops that Ginny lost count. Draco kept insisting upon buying her little gifts whenever she found something she liked. Even hiding the fact that she'd spotted something nice didn't work; Draco seemed to be able to just see it in her eyes and would order it from the shop staff before she had a chance to argue.

"Please Draco, that's enough." She said when he came out of the jewellery shop. He hadn't even let her choose her jewellery saying that for once in his life he wanted to surprise someone with a gift. "I've never felt so spoiled in all my life!"

"I've never realised that I could get so much enjoyment out of buying things for someone else… Mind you I doubt I'd have felt quite the same if you'd been Goyle or Pansy!" He chuckled. Draco held his arm out for her to take and started walking them back toward the leaky cauldron; he thought he might buy them dinner in there.

"I thought Pansy was your girlfriend? Did you not buy her any gifts?" Ginny pried.

Draco shrugged. "We went out when we were younger, but we just didn't have any attraction to each other. She's ok though… I guess she was the closest thing I'd consider to a friend at school but I still wouldn't have trusted her with anything. With you I feel like you actually listen to what I'm saying rather than just agreeing with me because you think you should."

"Well, you're worth listening to, you're funny and smart, and despite some of the horrible things you've been taught you do actually think in a similar way to me. It's nice to meet someone I can relate with... You know, I'd never have thought that I'd be having so much fun with someone I'd always considered to be my enemy! You're different to how I'd imagined." Ginny said.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "Well, like I said I've changed a lot in a year. I probably was exactly how you'd imagined for most of my life. I would never have spoken civilly to a 'blood traitor' before but since… Since my mother died those things don't seem that important to me anymore. All those people Voldemort wants to kill - they all have mothers, brothers, and children even. I can't say that I'd ever be happy mixing with muggles and the like but I'm coming to terms with the fact that they don't really deserve to die for that."

Ginny turned to look at him. "I'm so glad that you're thinking that way. I don't want this to sound patronising but I'm proud of you!" She pulled him into a big hug.

Draco was embarrassed but tried not to show it. "Honestly Weasel I know you just want to feel my muscular body again. There's no need to make up some excuse to hold me!" She shoved him in the side and giggled. Draco found it hard to look her in the eye right then so he took a look at his surroundings and noticed that they were in a less populated part of Diagon Alley's side streets, he knew that this wasn't a great place to be at the best of times, let alone with a war on.

"Weasel, we should really hurry up and get to the Cauldron, I'm famished." He lied, not wanted to worry her and spoil the mood. She laughed and threw her head back saying he was always hungry. Draco admired the way the combination of laughter and the setting sun made her brown eyes shine so brightly and realised he was right, her hair did look like a river of fire… He paused for a second. _That isn't right, her hair shouldn't be red._ He looked down at his hands and noticed that his skin seemed to be rapidly regaining its paleness.

"Shit G-Weasel. The potion, it's wearing off." He hissed at her.

"But that can't be, we've ages left." She said looking at her watch. It was then she realised that she had been having such a good day she had completely lost track of time. "We have to get back _now_." She cried, running in the direction she thought led back to their destination.

"Wait. You're going the wrong way!" Cried Draco. He sprinted after her, their bags banging heavily against his leg as he ran. He caught her arm just in time - coming out of a very dark and dusty shop were Crabbe and Goyle Senior.

"We have to hide. They're death eaters." Draco whispered urgently. "In here." He pulled her into a small alcove beside a boarded up shop.

"There's not enough room, they'll see us." Ginny whispered looking and feeling extremely panicked. Draco looked quickly over his shoulder and with a sinking feeling realised that the two men were heading directly their way. As stupid as he knew they were, it was blatantly obvious there was someone hiding here. He could probably hide Ginny behind him but she'd soon be found. Suddenly inspiration hit.

"Trust me and don't do anything stupid." He told her. Before she had a chance to ask what his plan was he had bent his head down and covered her lips with his own.

Ginny's head felt light as his arms slipped round her, she didn't quite register that he had turned their bodies round so that only his back would be visible. She was too busy drinking in the delicious feeling that was Draco's mouth. She stiffened slightly at the sound of footsteps but Draco chose that moment to flick his tongue along her bottom lip. In a dreamlike state she draped her arms around his neck and copied his action, following the lick with a small nibble.

Draco tried to get a hold of himself, they were in a perilous situation – he could hear one of the men behind him give a smutty laugh - but all he could think of was how soft Ginny's lips felt. When she gave his bottom lip a small bite he couldn't stop himself from parting her lips with his tongue and exploring her mouth. _Sweet Merlin she tastes good. _He thought as his hand snaked its way into her hair and his fingers pressed and kneaded gently against her neck and scalp.

"C'mon Goyle." came a grunting voice. "We've got work to do." Two sets of footsteps disappeared rapidly into the distance. Draco found it hard to stop kissing Ginny but he knew he had to get them back quickly before any other unsavoury characters turned up.

When he broke the kiss and moved away Ginny felt slightly disappointed that the moment was over.

"That was lucky." Draco told her. "Come on, I'm going to get us back." He grabbed her hand and pulled her rapidly down the road and through a series of alleyways. She found it hard to follow, her head was still reeling and her legs felt weak and wobbly. She kept pressing her fingers softly to her lips every time Draco stopped and peered round a corner to check the way was clear.

Eventually they made their way back to the leaky cauldron and managed to floo back to the house without being seen.

When they arrived back, sooty and confused, Tonks was waiting for them looking anxious. "Thank goodness you guys are back - I've been so worried. Your potion wore off half an hour ago; I thought you'd been caught!" She ran over and threw her arms around both of them which caused both Draco and Ginny to raise an eyebrow.

"Actually I was waiting for you to get back so I could thank you Draco. The wolfsbane potion you brewed for Remus worked perfectly... To say thank you we've arranged a special dinner for you - and you Ginny too of course! It's nearly ready so I hope you haven't eaten…"

Tonks shoved them both to their rooms telling them to clean up and be down as soon as they were ready. Draco just had time to hand Ginny the bags that had her new belongings in them before being ushered to his own room.

Neither of them had a chance to talk about what had happened although the kiss was definitely on both of their minds.


	17. Hide and seek

**Not sure quite how well I did with the kissing scene but hopefully it was convincing enough!! Hope you enjoyed ;) I'm going to be a bit of a meany for a while but keep reading... all will work out eventually!**

**I wrote this last night before going to bed, meaning to post this morning (_Oh and harrypotterchick4ever, where are you? I've missed your reviews) _but you've beaten me to it and already reviewed... see I really do appreciate you all!! **

**It still looks like no alerts are working but I promise to keep updating regularly so hopefully when you check you won't be disappointed! (I have a few chapters written out in rough so should hopefully be able to update every day until the weekend.)**

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Neither of them had a chance to talk about what had happened although the kiss was definitely on both of their minds.

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As Ginny got changed she thought about the moment she had shared with Draco, it took her breath away just thinking about it. She'd never been kissed like that before, although that was probably just because Draco was the most experienced man to ever kiss her – if rumours were true anyway. Half the school had gossiped about Draco Malfoy's wonderful kisses and how they planned on stealing one from him. 

Had she known just how good they were she would probably have considered it herself, well – possibly not seeing as she had thought him a cold hearted murderous death eater…

_But how am I meant to act around him now? _She thought…_ He probably wasn't even slightly affected by it and here I am not able to stop thinking about it! He only did it to save our arses – stop getting so worked up about it… be normal; act as you have been, everything will be fine… _Her brain was working overtime.

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Draco couldn't help but give a small smile when he thought about Ginny's sweet lips, which he was doing constantly as he got ready… He'd had plenty of women in his time but he had never felt a connection like that; she seemed so innocent yet everything she had done felt so right, as if she knew exactly how to turn him on. The thought of tasting her again was driving him wild, he considered just walking to her room, grabbing her and kissing her senseless. He shook his head at such a thought. _She only let you kiss her to save our arses. Just bide your time and see how she reacts. If she starts flirting then you know you can make a move. Be suave - don't get flustered…Play it cool._

They both left their respective rooms and bumped into each other on the stairs. "After you Red." Draco said smoothly. Ginny opened her mouth to say something, got flustered and practically ran down the stairs. _Stop acting like a baby_ she muttered silently to herself, but just the sight of Draco made her mind go into a muddle and she didn't know what to say or how to act.

Remus was waiting for them in the hallway, smiling and humming to himself. "Draco, Ginny. You have perfect timing; I was just coming to let you know that dinner is prepared…" He led them into the dining room where a tantalising smell wafted up from the covered bowls on the table. Remus lent over and said quietly to the couple "Tonks cooked the potatoes… Just warning you." He gave Ginny a wink and seated himself at the head of the table. Tonks bustled in with a tray of glasses and a bottle of champagne.

"I know you're not really meant to have this Ginny but just don't tell your mum and we will all be fine." She said uncorking the bottle and pouring them all a glass.

Dinner was a slightly awkward affair, Ginny kept avoiding Draco's eye, worried that she would blush at a single look and Draco worried that he'd offended her by kissing her. Remus and Tonks seemed unaware, chatting away happily about how nice it was not to have to worry about Remus' monthly problems. Tonks was especially happy as she didn't have to lose her boyfriend for a 7 nights every month.

Ginny found it increasingly difficult to avoid Draco's gaze, when he asked her to pass him more potatoes she found her hands shaking and almost dropped the whole steaming hot bowl in his lap; it was only his seekers instincts that helped him catch the bowl before it did some serious damage to parts he'd rather keep safe. Tonks laughed, "Hey Ginny – I've only just managed to find someone that likes my style of cooking. Don't burn him or he might be put off."

Ginny mumbled something about the champagne going to her head but she knew that it was the thought of Draco's hand touching hers as she passed the bowl that had made her heart pound and her hands shake. She was glad when they had all finished, she made an excuse about being tired after such a long day and practically ran from the room.

She sat on her bed taking deep breaths. _This is ridiculous, you're being worse than when you had a crush on Harry._ She told herself. _He doesn't even like you as more than a friend. _She looked through the bags of presents Draco had bought for her and pulled out a beautiful gold night dress decorated with tiny sequins. _Plus I've only known him for such a little time, I can't fancy him… I'm being silly. _She heard footsteps walk up to her door, she held her breath wondering if it could be Draco but they soon moved away again…

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Draco had stayed down with Remus and Tonks for a while; he felt it was only polite seeing as the dinner was in his honour. Remus had given him quite a few firewhiskeys and patted him on the back when he finally made his way up. 

He walked up the stairs slowly, wondering why Ginny had behaved so strangely at dinner. _She must feel awkward,_ he thought. _Probably not very happy at the situation we ended up in because of my demand to go shopping. Bloody fool... Maybe she still thinks she has a thing for Potter, although she obviously needs a visit to St Mungo's if she'd choose him over me!_ He decided to see how she was the next day; he certainly didn't want to lose his newfound friendship with her over this, even if the thought of her luscious mouth was driving him wild. If she was still acting strange then he'd have to smooth things over so they could go back to the way they were…

He paused outside her door, wanting desperately to knock and find out if she was wearing any of the silky lingerie he had bought her. She had protested but he could see in her eyes that she loved all the items the shop assistant had shown her, especially the gold one. Draco thought about how well it would fit her curves...He shook his head, if he couldn't have her as more than a friend then he'd have to settle for that and not make any unwanted advances on her.

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The next morning Draco woke up tired and grouchy. He'd sat up until late the night before thinking about the flame haired witch sleeping just a room away from him. 

He was used to getting any woman he wanted without having to put any effort into it, but… he'd never been friends with a girl before. Or with anyone really, not the way he was with Ginny.

It was frustrating wanting something but knowing it might be at the possibility of losing something else.

Draco stood up, stretched and started getting ready for the day. He could beat this feeling. If he was gifted enough to shut his mind down so even the 'great' Voldemort couldn't pluck thoughts from his head then he was sure he could train himself to block out any lustful feelings he had towards one witch. Especially one that he'd spent years thinking he hated.

Once he was washed and dressed he decided to look for Ginny and let her know that he just wanted to be friends and she needn't worry about him jumping her in the middle of the night. _Don't even think thoughts like that you fool, it's not helping!_

He went to the kitchen thinking it the most likely place to find her but instead he walked in on Tonks. She was singing a song he'd never heard of very loudly and making yet another bizarre concoction which she offered to share with him. They chatted for a while and Draco appreciated her banter but really needed to straighten things out with Ginny.

He spent the rest of the morning wandering round the house looking for her, at one point he felt sure that he'd seen a flash of red hair but when he got to the place he thought he had seen her it was deserted.

During his travels he found a room stuffed full of old books which he was very tempted to stop and rummage through. _No! I'll be here all day and I want to find that bloody witch._ He thought. At first he had been worried about Ginny but now he was getting annoyed. He wasn't used to having to run around after someone and was confused and gradually getting more and more tetchy._ I was the one that saved us from Death Eaters. What else was there to do? If I hadn't kissed her we would have been caught. I don't deserve to be ignored; I should be being thanked… What's wrong with my kissing anyway? Most girls swoon over me and beg me for more! I'm a great kisser, what's that girl's problem? _

He strode through the halls of the house as if he owned them, indignant at the fact he was doubting his prowess because of one little witch. He threw back the door to the medical room, thinking he would call her with the dragon charm that was there.

Before he could do anything there came a loud pop followed by an even louder thump as a red haired body materialized from thin air and crumpled to the floor…


	18. Fire and Ice

**Thanks for the reviews! Harmswife... well guessed! robin, no smoochies for a little while as they're going to be a bit stupid I'm afraid! harrypotterchick4ever, sorry I worded it a bit badly... I was going to ask where you were but before I posted I saw your review, just wanted to prove that I value you lol!**

**But now I'm going to ask about Lost Enchanter as you haven't reviewed since chapter 15!! You've been a great help from the start so I hope you're still reading :) **

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**Before he could do anything there came a loud pop followed by an even louder thump as a red haired body materialized from thin air and crumpled to the floor… **

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Ginny had been avoiding Draco all day; she had led him a merry chase round the house in her desperate attempt to avoid a confrontation. She knew that she was being silly and childish but she really needed some time to get her head straight. The dreams she had the night before about Draco had seemed more vivid and real than anything she'd done with a boy in her waking life.

Ginny didn't understand how a day of being treated like a princess and one kiss could have made her feel this way. She was obviously over-reacting to the situation they had been in and instead of being worried about their possible capture her brain had decided to focus on Draco instead. _That must be it… I'm in shock_ she thought, although she felt absolutely fine apart from an insatiable urge for another of those mind blowing kisses.

Footsteps sounded down the corridor so Ginny slipped into the medical room in an attempt to avoid who ever it might be. _If it's Draco then he is really good at tracking me down. _As she looked around for a place to hide she caught sight of the charms that would call people there. For some reason Ron's Chudley Cannons player caught her eye and she felt a stab of panic in her stomach and an acrid taste in her mouth. _Maybe I actually am in shock?_ She wondered before hearing the footsteps get closer. Just in time she escaped through the other door and fled down the stairs towards the kitchen as quickly as possible.

Halfway down the stairs Ginny was hit with a wave of pain and had to pause, as she stopped she heard a loud pop followed by a thump. The noise came from the medical room that she had just left. "Draco!" she whispered and immediately turned back the way she came… Tonks, obviously having heard the noise too, overtook her and threw back the door to the medical room. When Ginny caught up she saw what Tonks was gawping at... Draco leaning over a body that lay crumpled on the floor. "Ronald?" Ginny said, paralysed by shock.

"Draco – How could you?" Tonks said just as Remus reached them.

"What's happening here?" Remus asked. "Boy, what did you do to him?"

Draco looked up at the three people surrounding him; he caught all of their eyes. "I did nothing." He stated, not really sure what else to say. He was angry that these people acted as if they trusted him but at the first sign of trouble they turned on him and he was sure it showed in his face.

"Did you come here for this?" Remus asked coldly. "We trusted you when the potion worked, like the fools we are. I ask again, what have you done?"

Ginny looked at Draco and he begged her with his eyes for help and belief. An unknown feeling welled up in her chest; instinctively she just knew he was telling the truth. "He didn't do it." She said quietly.

Tonks gave her the barest of glances. "Ginny I got here before you; you're taking your trust too far this time."

Ginny felt her chest fill up with heat; a red hot flush spread all over her body and she felt as if she was sitting too close to an open fireplace. She sucked in a breath and felt as though her lungs were ablaze. The air in front of her face was distorting, it was hazy and rippling like the air in a heat wave.

Remus turned to say something to her but gasped in shock, Ginny's hair was whipping round her face as though an unfelt breeze was attacking her. He went to take a step towards her but was forced back by the vast amount of heat that was radiating from her small frame. She looked up and her normally brown eyes were flecked full of bright, shining gold light.

She boomed in a voice that seemed to come from the atmosphere itself. "_He is telling the truth_."

Just then another pop sounded and Hermione appeared in front of them, she stumbled slightly and then focused on Ginny who had felt the heat drain away from her as soon as it had arrived. "Help him." Hermione screamed, grabbing hold of Ginny's arm and dragging her to the prostrate form of Ron of the floor. "What happened?" asked Ginny.

"We found one of the horcruxes but there was some sort of magical barrier surrounding it. Harry wanted to try to go through but Ron said that we should remember what happened to Dumbledore. He… he said that Harry was too important so he would try to get through… I offered but he said - he said that I was too important to him and he wouldn't be able to live if I got hurt… Help him Ginny; I never got to tell him I love him." Hermione's last sentence was barely recognisable through the sobs that racked her body.

Ginny knelt down by his body and tried to examine him. As soon as she touched his skin she had to pull her hands away. "He's freezing cold." Ginny's eyes widened as she saw small patches of ice forming round his closed eyes and the corners of his mouth, they were getting larger as she watched. "Hermione, what was the barrier like?"

Hermione looked up with bloodshot eyes. "White, it was like a white viscous wall but there was a blue filmy substance floating through it."

Ginny was worried; it wasn't anything she had heard of before. She ran to the desk and grabbed a bezoar but apart from slowing the rate of ice forming over him it seemed to make no difference to Ron's condition.

"Ginny – do something, please. I love him." Hermione wailed. Ginny was wringing her hands and tears were forming in her eyes. "Hermione I love him too, he's my brother… I just don't know what to do."

Remus and Tonks were standing there helplessly, Remus had tried calling for Madam Pomfry with her charm but there was no response. Draco looked from Ron's body to Hermione and finally to Ginny and the tears in her eyes which had yet to fall. He cast aside all hatred he had for the boy on the floor and strode over to them purposefully. Hermione gasped as he dragged her upright by her arm…

"This magic wall, did it have a dark blue liquid running through it or a light one?" He shook her slightly when she stared at him as if stupefied. "Blue-" she muttered uselessly… then her head shot up. "Electric blue, I remember thinking it was glowing so brightly."

Draco dropped her arm and ran over to the potions desk. He began rummaging manically through the ingredients and throwing things together. Everyone else in the room held their breath as he took another bezoar and dipped it in the gloopy brown mixture he had concocted.

Nervously Draco walked back over to his old enemy and gave Hermione a look asking for her permission to treat Ron. Hermione nodded quickly, her mane of bushy hair flying round her face as she did.

He prized open Ron's rapidly freezing jaw and popped the mixture he had made in. After a few seconds Ron's skin had turned a normal colour and his breathing was noticeably better. "He'll probably be asleep for a day or so because to get the full curative effect you should leave the potion to sit for an hour. But he will be ok." Draco was shocked as Hermione enveloped him in a giant hug. She was sobbing into his chest and saying "thank you." over and over.

Draco pulled a face of disgust at the thought of being hugged by 'the mudblood' but still brought himself to pat her awkwardly on the back. "You see... girls are always throwing themselves at me." he joked to the room in general.


	19. Just friends

**Thanks again for your reviews. I have been replying but I think the Alerts are still a bit screwy so you might not have got them…**

**Lost Enchanter's back – yay!! **

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"You see... girls are always throwing themselves at me." he joked to the room in general.

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Ginny sat in shock in her room. She was so confused about all that had happened in the last hour. Ron had been in mortal peril, Draco Malfoy had saved him and she… well she had had some unheard of transformation. Although not unheard of because as she'd said to Remus when he had questioned her, Dumbledore had known... So this was the wonderful gift he'd spoken about. 

She had asked Remus a few days ago about occlumens, after hearing him mention it when they questioned Draco. He explained all about it and she had thought that maybe the gift Dumbledore wanted to train her to use was leglimency, but now she knew it was something quite different.

She sat on her bed with her legs crossed, staring into space. Remus and Tonks had first apologised profusely to Draco and then asked her so many questions that she just didn't have the answers to. She didn't have any idea how she knew that Draco had been telling the truth, nor the reason behind her extreme reaction. She had explained all that she knew from Dumbledore, but that turned out to be very little as he was to explain all when he trained her in the coming year of school. Now there was no Dumbledore and possibly no school so she had no idea how to learn to use her talent.

There was a knock on the door. Ginny opened it and saw Draco looking concerned.

"Are you ok?" he asked. Ginny moved to let him into the room. She sighed. "I have no idea... physically I feel absolutely fine but I - I'm scared Draco." Tears threatened to fall but she blinked them back.

"The Wea… Ronald will be just fine Ginny, trust me. I wasn't Snape's best student for nothing." He said, worried to see her in such a state.

"It's not that. I do trust you and I know he will be back to his obnoxious self soon enough." She gave a half smile and then became serious once more. "I'm afraid of what I have inside me. The power, it felt scary, like I was burning up. Remus said that he couldn't get near me because of the heat. What if I can't control it and I end up burning the whole place down. I understand so little and that panics me."

"You trusted Dumbledore right?" Draco asked.

"Of course I did!"

"Well, did he ever tell you that your power was dangerous or that should anything happen to him someone else would need to train you?"

Ginny shook her head. "No, he just said it was a wonderful gift but it was really rare these days. He didn't once say it had any negative points…"

"Well then, I'm sure it's not going to be a problem. If he said it was an old magic then there will be something about it in a book somewhere. If it makes you feel better then I'll read every last book in Britain!"

It did make her feel better. Just being in Draco's presence again soothed Ginny. She realised as silly as it may be she had feelings for him. "Thank you Draco. I don't know what I'd do with out you here. I don't seem to have many friends to talk to anymore." She sighed, he _was_ a friend but she was starting to wish for more.

Draco looked into her eyes; she was saying that he was her only friend at the moment and he wasn't going to ruin that for her. He had decided to come in and reassure her and possibly see if she would like a little more than comforting, but at those words he decided finally that he just needed to be strong for her. No one had ever depended on him before but now that someone did he would make sure he didn't let them down.

All he wanted to do was hold her and tell her everything would be ok, but instead he gritted his teeth and said, "I'm here for you Ginny. As a friend. I don't want you to feel awkward about yesterday. I'm sorry I kissed you but I couldn't think of anything else to do."

Ginny's heart sank. So she was getting carried away with romantic notions of being the girl who finally helped the bad boy realise he was good and he really had no interests in her at all. "Don't be sorry, you more than likely saved us from capture. It was very quick thinking." She said morosely.

"So you're not mad at me?" Draco asked her.

"No, of course not!"

"Then why were you avoiding me all day?" He queried.

"I… I didn't really know how to act around you." She answered honestly, looking down at the floor. Draco tilted her head up with his hand and stared straight into her eyes. "If you managed to put up with me being such an insufferable git when we were at school and still be yourself then you shouldn't have any problem with it now we are friends. Be you Ginny, no acts…"

They stared at each other for a moment, not realising that they were both feeling things for each other and trying to hide them. Draco broke the gaze first. "Come on then, let's go see that great oaf of a brother of yours. Hopefully he'll wake up early so I can gloat about my potions skills." Ginny smiled and the tension was broken.

They wandered back to the medical room where Ron was still sleeping. Hermione was sat next to him stroking his arm and reading to him from a book. Ginny stifled a giggle imagining it was probably an extremely boring book about the life cycle of flobberworms, something more likely to send someone to sleep than wake them up!

She looked up at them and smiled. "He must be back to normal because he's snoring." She said. "Ginny I sent a message to your mother; your parents will be here soon. Harry managed to destroy the Horcrux without being hurt and he popped back to check Ron was ok. He couldn't stay but I'm sure he would have wanted me say hello." She looked a little embarrassed on Harry's behalf; she felt that he should really have sought out Ginny. She had a feeling that the thought of being near Malfoy was too much for him to cope with. Harry had felt a little pity for him after Dumbledore's death but he still hated him with a passion.

Ginny was a little upset that Harry hadn't bothered to come and see her. She was still meant to be his friend after all. But she didn't feel bad for long. "I'm going to see my parents." she said excitedly and clapped her hands in glee.

Draco didn't feel so good about the Weasley's coming there. After all he had spent a good amount of time ridiculing their family and as much as he hated Lucius, he was still his father as far as the Weasley's were concerned and had done a horrific thing to their only daughter. Draco was quite dreading their arrival.


	20. Mollycoddled

**Woooohoooo! Alerts are working again (or so it seems) that's fab news as now I won't miss out on any of your excellent stories :)**

**I have another chapter almost written. I might not be able to update over the weekend but if I can't I promise I'll have another chapter up on Monday. I can't stop writing - I'm hooked lol.**

**I've replied to the reviews I could but for those of you that I can't reply to I just wanted to say thanks again. You're all really kind and yesterday I walked home with a big grin on my face. People must think I'm mad!!**

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…as much as he hated Lucius, he was still his father as far as the Weasley's were concerned and had done a horrific thing to their only daughter. Draco was quite dreading their arrival.

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Draco decided that a sharp exit was in order but he had barely made it to the door when he heard yet another popping noise and felt a large hand clamp down on his shoulder…

He turned around and was faced with none other than Arthur Weasley. The man his father had despised and told Draco was a waste of space that would never amount to anything. Draco wasn't sure he agreed with his father on that. After all it was My Weasley who now had the good job at the ministry, Arthur who still had a loving wife and family. Draco's father had certainly never looked as happy as Mr Weasley did.

"Sir." He managed with a nod of his head.

"Come now boy. You weren't thinking of disappearing on us were you?" Arthur said with a frown. Draco wanted to fidget nervously but years of training had forced him to contain his nervousness; so he instead cleared his throat lightly. "I thought you might want some time alone with your son Sir."

"Nonsense dear," came a warm and friendly voice from by Ron's bed. "Why would we send away the hero that saved my little Ronald's life?"

Draco could have shouted that he was certainly no hero and for her to please refrain from calling him that again but he held his temper well. "Mrs Weasley, it was nothing; I just knew the correct potion to use. Now if you would excuse me I really should-"

"No you don't." Arthur said. "We've yet to thank you properly… Hermione told us how you saved him and if she said it was clever work then it must have been. Don't worry about your father either," Arthur felt Draco flinch but continued. "Hermione also told us how you've changed for the better. I can't judge you on things your father has done so how about we call it a clean slate?"

He held out his hand to Draco who stared at it for a second before saying. "On one condition sir. Please never call _that man_ my Father anymore. He didn't lift a finger to save my Mother's life so he doesn't deserve the title, in fact he probably never has."

Arthur looked awkward but nodded his head and they shook hands. Taking this as a sign Molly stood up and wrapped her arms around Draco's waist, she was ridiculously short compared to him but he still felt as though she had a very commanding presence. She stood back and started chatting to him as if he were an old family friend.

"Now dear, you must come to the wedding of course. I'm sure Fleur won't mind us bringing you as a guest of honour... Now stop shaking your head about like that, it will be a fantastic day. I suppose you'll need some robes... hmm, now you're too tall for even Ronald's I think." She babbled on until Ginny with a laugh told her that she was intimidating Draco.

"Nonsense Ginny dear. He would tell me if I was bothering him, wouldn't you dear?"

Draco nodded his head mutely, not knowing what to say. _Maybe I've found someone even crazier than Aunt Bellatrix?_ He thought. After a minute his brain kicked in and he found his silver tongue which worked wonders with Ginny's mother.

"Mrs Weasley, while I would be absolutely honoured to accompany you to your son's wedding, I do feel that we should wait for you to ask the Bride. I understand this day is very important for her and wouldn't want to impose. If I am welcome then I do have dress robes but I will buy something fitting for the occasion as I would of course need to purchase them a suitable gift anyway."

"Ah, you remind me of your mother, I wasn't particularly good friends with her at school but I remember her having _such_ good manners. Then she was married to that man. Not surprising considering your grandfather's views..." Molly's face turned dark for a moment, but like Ginny she always liked to look on the bright side.

"Right then Ginny, why don't you show me how well you've kept your kitchen and we'll cook something nice together for my baby when he wakes up."

Ginny was delighted; she walked out holding her mum's hand and gave Draco a wink, leaving him with Arthur.

"Sorry about Molly, you'll learn to love her ways. She likes to mother everybody; Merlin knows she's had enough practice!"

Draco was perplexed at how nice Mr and Mrs Weasley were being to him, surely they couldn't have simply forgotten all the mean things he'd done to their son, all the horrid remarks he'd made about their situation in life and, definitely not about the amount of jokes he made about Ron's appearance.

"Mr Weasley I-"

"Call me Arthur. Go on…"

"Ok... Arthur. I feel that I should say something about my behaviour towards your son at school. You see we never really hit it off and-"

Arthur laughed, again cutting him off. "Didn't hit it off? More like hated each other vehemently I should say. Molly and I understand how kids can be at school my boy; we were there once you know. I had my fair share of school rivalries. Some adults just can't seem to grow out of it but judging by the looks Ginny gave you she's taken to you and she always has been a good judge of character. I'd say you're over the worst of your behaviour and if you befriended my Ginbug then I'm sure some of her better habits will rub off on you. Just don't let her convince you to help her with any pranks. She's almost as bad as the twins when she gets going!"

Draco was astonished. He'd never been around such easy going and forgiving people. It was like he was among a different species. And what did he mean Ginny had taken to him? What looks?

Hermione piped up from her seat by Ron's slumbering form. "I can't bear it any longer… How did you know what the barrier was? How did you know what potion to make?"

Draco noticed that Arthur seemed all ears at the question too. "I excel at potions, it's like the knowledge is just in my head waiting to come out. I can read all the books and then something inside me just knows how to make the concoctions better, more potent. Like I said to Ginny, I wasn't Snape's best student for years for nothing."

"Snape." Hermione spat. "He has the means to save so many people's lives with his potions. yet he chooses instead to be a murderer."

Arthur looked to Draco for a response. Draco sighed, he felt that had to try and defend Snape even though he wasn't really sure he deserved it. "He's not a nice man, you're right there. But he took an unbreakable oath to protect me and do what I had to do if I couldn't. He told me Dumbledore knew this. I… there's so much I don't understand and more that he said he couldn't tell me. I just can't think too badly of the man. He's always been more of a father to me than Lucius ever was. When Voldemort said I was to be _put down,_ as he called it, Snape was the only one to defend me. He said that Dumbledore had put me into a kind of trance and 'bewitched' me for want of a better word. He told so many lies to Voldemort for me that I simply can't believe he is still loyal to the Dark Lord. I don't know that he has any loyalties other than to himself but I know he didn't want things to end up how they did. He even visited me in my cell and offered to help me escape at his own risk but by then they had killed my mother and I had no will left to break away from my captors."

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know what to think, I know I can't forgive him. Murder is still murder. He had a choice - he could have spared Dumbledore and paid the price of taking the oath."

"But there were more Death Eaters following him... because of me." Draco hung his head. "One of them would have killed Dumbledore anyway. Especially if they came up and saw Snape dead on the floor, they wouldn't know it was from the vow. I'm not asking you to forgive him; I'm just saying I can't hate him."

Arthur cleared his throat. "I think we've said enough on this subject. It's a sore point all round. We all know your involvement and I think none of us can hold it against you anymore. I don't know what I would have done at your young age if I was told to do those things to protect my family. It must have been very difficult. But you obviously regret it and you're trying to do your best now, which means my son is alive for which I am most grateful."

"Me too Mal-Draco. For once I'm glad someone knew more than me. I don't know what I'd do if I lost Ron." Draco nearly sneered at the look she gave Ron, who was snoring louder than ever but caught himself in time.

Ginny and Molly came back after a while and Molly looked very happy. "Arthur, we can stay for a while can't we? I'm missed seeing my babies and we haven't got another meeting until after the wedding next week."

"Of course my petal." He said giving his wife a big hug.

_Great_ thought Draco. _Well, I never saw this coming… Summer holidays with the bloody Weasley family. _

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**I loved writing Arthur and Molly; I just kept hearing them saying the lines in my head! (Obviously the actors' voices from the films as my copies of the book have never spoken to me... yet!)**


	21. Love birds

**Well it turns out I may well update this weekend! Please excuse any spelling mistakes as my evening has been very broken up with wedding issues. Do please note any inaccuracies and I will of course amend them!**

**Thanks as always to the lovely, wonderful people who reviewed. I read a story yesterday which had about 900 reviews! Yikes, obviously I'm not doing quite as well as I thought. Hey ho. I'm having a blast writing anyway ;)**

**x **

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_Great_ thought Draco. _Well, I never saw this coming… Summer holidays with the bloody Weasley family._

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Ron didn't wake up that night so they all ate a fairly quiet dinner and retired for the night. The next morning Draco woke to a knock on his door. He rubbed his bleary eyes and cracked open the door to see who was there. Ginny was there in an oversized dressing gown, she giggled at him.

"Wa?" he muttered still half asleep.

"Your hair – it's a mess." She giggled and reached up to brush it back into place. Half asleep Draco gave a little moan. "Mmm, that feels nice. You can do my hair every morning if you want." Ginny blushed and swatted him round the head.

"Come on silly. Dad's said that he can get us some specially charmed clothes to conceal us so we can shop for wedding presents and stuff without having to drink Polyjuice. It's quite an honour as they're really rare. He only managed it as he cleared up a huge problem for them last week so they owed him! First though we have to go see Ron because he seems like he's going to wake up. He's been mumbling about being cold, Hermione and other crap for the last five minutes..."

Draco just mumbled incoherently and lay back down in his bed. Ginny followed him and tried to pull him up. Draco opened one eyelid and peered out at her. "I can see that you're going to be persistent aren't you. Gods you're a pain woman…" He sat up and pulled on his own very expensive gown. It was nice having his own things to use. Maybe more shopping wasn't a bad idea, although being flanked by a load of Weasley's wasn't exactly how he'd choose to do it!

They both shuffled down the corridor to the medical room where Ron was sitting up and kissing Hermione passionately.

Draco looked on in horror. "Now that's put my off my breakfast. Thanks Ginny, that horrific vision is enough to give me nightmares." Ginny giggled realising that this was all his sense of humour but Ron's eyes shot open and Hermione looked very embarrassed.

"WHAT is HE doing here?" Ron bellowed at the top of his voice. He rummaged around for his wand. "He saved your arse Ron." Ginny said with a smirk that would do a Malfoy proud.

Ron stuttered for a minute before looking to Hermione for an explanation. "Can you please explain what the bloody hell a Malfoy is doing standing next to my sister, in a dressing gown and… and… WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?"

"That's quite enough of that language young man." Molly came through the door levitating a tray full of delectable food; Arthur followed her with a giant pot of tea and cups.

Ron looked as though his eyes were going to pop out of his head. "I'm dreaming, this is all a horrible nightmare and I will wake up." He tried slapping himself but Hermione grabbed his hand. "Ron, it's no dream. I should have told you before but you and Harry have had so much work with the horcruxes I thought it best not to worry you…"  
"Worry me? WORRY ME… You think this is how I should find out… Why is _he _here?"

Ginny explained to Ron how she had met Malfoy and how he had saved Ron's life the day before. She watched as the expressions on his face turned from anger to disgust to shock and finally all out confusion as his brain tried to put the idea of helpfulness and Malfoy's together and failed miserably.

"So Ronald, where are your manners? You owe this boy a life debt." Molly said "Say thank you."

Ron opened and shut his mouth several times "He looks like a fish!" Draco whispered to Ginny who just about managed to stop herself snorting with laughter.

Arthur stepped in to save his poor son. "Now Ronald. I understand this will be difficult for you given your history, but Draco here did save your life and he certainly seems to have made a turnaround with his life so the least you can do is be civil and thank him."

Hermione stroked his arm gently. "I would have lost you if it wasn't for him Ron. Be thankful that we will have some more time together at least."

Ron looked deeply into her eyes and sighed. "I'm still mad at you for not telling me but… I was so scared I might lose you if you went to get the horcrux. I'd die for you 'Mione… I love you." He squared his shoulders and grunted. "Thank you Fer- Malfoy for saving my life. I'm still not quite sure why you and my sister are in dressing gowns however." he added a little forcefully at the end.

"Because I dragged him out of his own bed to come and see your grand awakening you prat. We're just friends Ron." Ginny said. Draco wondered why she sounded a little sad; maybe she was fed up with getting the third degree from her brother.

"Right then, that's all settled, tea everybody?" Molly said, in her element. They all tucked in happily to the tea and breakfast provided, when they had all had their fill Molly drew her wand and cleaned up all the mess. "Will Ron be ok to come shopping with us Draco?" Molly asked.

Ron turned a little red and said "I think I'd like a little time alone with Hermione if that's ok? We've got a lot to talk about and we'll need to be getting back to Harry soon."

Molly smiled sadly. "Of course dear. But don't forget your poor old mother. I miss you. We're all very worried; I know you're doing a lot of dangerous things."

"I promise mum. We'll all put everything aside for Bill's wedding. Hopefully this will all be over with soon." He gave a big sigh; life was so difficult at the moment. At least he had Hermione now.

They all went and got washed and dressed and met in the hallway. Ginny approached Draco and gave his arm a small squeeze. "Would you mind if I cast the binding charm again? It's not that anyone doubts you still but… well; I'd like to know that you're near me so if anything goes wrong you can get us out of there. You seem to be good at that!" Draco nodded his consent and Ginny once again bound them together.

He started thinking about bonds and wondered if the reason he felt so strongly about the little witch was the bond formed when she had saved his life. It would explain a lot but then she was good looking and funny and his only real friend so he might have felt that way anyway. Still it made him wonder, he was glad he'd taken a step back, now he would have time to consider this new thought.

Arthur handed around various articles of clothing, Draco had a watch, Ginny a neck scarf, Molly a hat and he had a jacket. Arthur seemed awfully happy about using them. "Now these are really very special items. I'm amazed the ministry allowed me to borrow them but they did owe me an awfully big favour! These articles will confuse people's memories. While you're talking to them people will hear you and you can carry on a normal conversation but once you've left they will have difficulty remembering what you talked about and have no recollection of what you looked like. Fabulous isn't it?"

As they made their way to London Draco found that he was unable to dislike Ginny's parents. Arthur seemed to be amazed by the whole world and was in awe of such simple objects, Draco felt a bit humbled by all the things he took for granted. Molly's babble actually was rather soothing and really put him at ease.

The four of them wandered round the shops looking for the perfect gift for Bill and Fleur. They had both said that no one needed to buy anything but as Ginny said "As if we'd do that!" Ginny's parents got them a beautiful dragon skin bound album, each page had beautiful pictures of romantic scenery which changed, trees that blew gently in a summer breeze or the sea lapping against the shore on a beautiful remote beach. Each page had a space for a picture and as Fleur and Bill planned on taking a 'round the world trip' for their honeymoon when the war was over they thought it was a concept that the happy couple would love. Especially as Fleur enjoyed having her picture taken so very much!

Arthur said that Molly and he had to sort something out that was very boring and suggested that Draco take Ginny to look for a present while they finished off. They agreed to meet back by the leaky cauldron in a couple of hours. Draco took Ginny straight to the Magical Menagerie. "I have an idea… if you don't mind sharing a present to them that is?" Ginny shook her head and looked expectantly at him.

"I'll show you." He took her hand and guided her to the back of the shop where there were two brightly coloured green and red parrots.

"I'm not sure birds are an appropriate wedding present Draco." Ginny started.

"They are lovebirds. And not ordinary lovebirds either. They share a bond with each other and when they have two good masters they extend their bond to include them. They are loving and intelligent and almost as good as owls for delivering messages, although somewhat more noticeable. Also they can sense when one of their masters is in danger and will warn the other half of the partnership. To own a pair is meant to be extremely good luck for your own relationship."

Ginny gawped at him. "Wow. You sure know a lot about them, I never had you pegged for a romantic Draco."

Draco scoffed. "Knowledge does _not_ make me a romantic. I happen to like birds and reading so I picked up a few bits here and there."

Ginny laughed. "You sound like Hermione."

Draco gave Ginny a disdainful look. "Please, do not ever make that connection again or I shall be forced to spell your mouth shut and you'll have to eat liquidised food through your nose."

"Eeeew, you're gross." She said nudging him with her shoulder. He pushed her back gently with his hand, his shoulder being far too high to do any nudging with. "No, comparing me to Granger is gross. Can we please quit this conversation before I'm forced to remember the last time I saw her when she was sucking your brother's face off. I may lose my breakfast."

They walked to the counter and Draco ordered the two love birds plus an absolutely gorgeous, hideously expensive wrought iron and glass cage. Ginny looked confused when the assistant brought it up with no door.

"Won't they escape?" She asked. The eccentric looking assistant shook his head. "No ma'am, these birds be comin' back to their masters no matter what. No worries about losin' these birdies. Right special they are." Ginny was rather distracted throughout the man's speech by a large spider that was crawling across the counter. Like her brother she had an irrational fear of anything with more than four legs. Draco could sense her nervousness and went to pick the creature up and move it.

The shop worked grabbed his hand in a very hard grip. "Don't be touching that young master. He be a right poisonous one exceptin to those who own him. Him's never gotten out of his cage before and I see no reason why he shoulda done so now. I'd be a watching your back if I were you."

Ginny and Draco looked around them warily. No one should have known they were there so they both felt the shop assistant was overly cautious and, as Ginny mumbled to Draco, probably trying to sell them something.

They walked out of the shop with the birds sitting happily in their cage and chirping away to each other. Suddenly a sharp whistle sounded from across the street and one of the birds flew from the cage towards the noise. Ginny let out a little cry and ran blindly after it, not noticing the large group of wizards on racing brooms speeding their way towards her.


	22. The broken bond

_I noticed a little mistake in this (The line was "_Let me go Weasel bitch"_ but she shouldn't have known who Ginny was as she still has the scarf on!!) So I've changed one line. well done if anyone spotted it! _

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I'm sorry if the last chapter was a little confusing! I knew in my head what should happen but my evening was very broken up with phone calls, emails and my mother coming round to talk wedding stuff with a bottle of wine (never drink and write.)**

**Hopefully this chapter will be better and you'll get an explanation to the weirdness in a chapter or two!! **

**Thanks again for your reviews. I'm off to answer them now but I will say as one reviewer mentioned it. If you notice any punctuation or spelling errors then please let me know as I will go back and change them. (Sometimes it's me being daft and others its where my wireless keyboard runs out of signal and I don't notice so I really do appreciate when you spot them!) **

**Thanks :)**

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Ginny let out a little cry and ran blindly after it, not noticing the large group of wizards on racing brooms speeding their way towards her.

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Draco looked up at Ginny running away and opened his mouth to shout at her that the bird would come back; but before the words could come out he realised she would be hit by the lead wizards, there was no way they could stop in time. Without thinking further he stretched out his hands, thought deep in his mind "Accio Ginny." and felt a deep pull in his stomach as the witch flew towards him, crashing against his body and throwing them both to the floor. 

Ginny gasped as Draco's arms embraced her, she was flung to the ground but landed softly as Draco's body shielded her from the hard floor. "What were you thinking?" Draco asked, rubbing his shoulder.

"The bird was escaping. I didn't want to give my brother half a present!" she muttered.

"Did you hear nothing the man said? It will always come back. Ginny, you could have died; those wizards…"

"What wizards?" Ginny asked. They both looked round but saw no one but the usual shoppers, albeit looking slightly confused. Draco helped Ginny up from the floor and pulled her over to a nearby seat outside a café. Ginny couldn't help but follow his strong arms, she was so attracted to him and was desperately trying to contain her feelings in order to keep the first real friend she'd had that truly seemed to accept her for her and not Ron's sister.

Draco sat her down and hailed the waiter, ordering two coffees. "Something's not right. That spider escaped just to distract you and then I saw wizards on nimbus lightnings about to collide with you when you ran after the bird. Someone knows what's going on."

"You saved my life then." Ginny muttered. "Thank you Draco." She kissed him lightly on the cheek_. She's right. I saved her life and broke the bond… So why do I want to kiss her more than I ever have? _He thought.

They sat and drank their coffees in silence until Draco said. "What's going on Weasel? Why would someone target you?" She shook her head. "They can't know who I am… No one could. The ministry wouldn't have given these to Dad if they didn't work." She pulled at her scarf lightly.

Across the road there was a sudden commotion. People were screaming and running away, some of them fainting. Ginny peered over and saw a black cloaked shape slither out of an alleyway and corner a small ragged figure. She felt cold and slightly deadened but she had felt this way before and knew exactly what to do.

Draco watched numbly as Ginny stood up and strode across the floor, shouting a loud incantation and pointing her wand at the black robed figure. A large, bird shaped silver form exploded from the tip of her wand, soared across the space and flew at the dark being which fled under the onslaught it received. Ginny's silver bird vanished as soon as the creature was gone. Draco felt the warmth creep back into his body and ran after her. They both reached the crouching figure at the same time.

"Parkinson?" Draco uttered. The dirty, cowering girl looked up, "You know me?" she asked.

Draco grabbed her, none too gently and dragged her to a more secluded part of the road. "It's Draco you arse. This is the Weasel kings sister.What have you been doing? What trouble are you in and what do you know about the subterfuges that have taken place today?"

Ginny finally recognised Pansy Parkinson from school. She was skinny as a wraith, filthy and shivering like an abandoned dog; her clothes were ripped and stank of decay. She tried to say something but no words came out and she clawed her throat as if in pain. Ginny grabbed her hands and said quietly. "Don't try to speak. Don't even think about it. Come with me and I can help you. Draco - Carry her this way."

Draco swept the girl up into his arms and Ginny couldn't help but feel a flush of jealousy. She wanted Draco so badly now and here he was with his ex girlfriend in his arms. By her own bidding no less. They got to a hidden corner and Draco lay her on the floor. Ginny chanted an anti silencing spell, the dark haired girl wheezed as if she had run a marathon.

"Thank you." She croaked. Before she could utter another word Draco grabbed her shoulders and shook her, hard. "Tell me all you know. I'm warning you." Parkinson looked up at him with eyes so dark brown as to be almost black. "Draco. I… How are you alive? Everyone thinks you are dead." She tried to claw her way into a hug with him but Ginny held her down a little more roughly than was necessary. Jealousy lit a fire in her heart.

"You stay right there. Tell us what happened to you and what's been going on. From what I can tell Draco seems to think you have a part in all of this madness and I want to know what's going on."

Pansy narrowed her eyes and struggled. "Since when could you know what Malfoy thinks? His mind is a closed book. Let me go Weasel bitch."

Draco got angry at Ginny being called such a name. "She knows what I think since she means a lot to me and she's intuitive. Never befoul her name again." He softened at seeing his former alliance look at him with such a beaten and betrayed look. "Pansy let me help you. Tell me what you know and I can save you from whatever you're messed up in."

"He'll kill me." She whispered. Draco recognised the fear in her eyes.

"If you're talking about _Him_ then no he won't. Not if people see me kill you first here and now. Do you trust me?" Parkinson paused and the nodded. Draco started screaming at her and calling her names that Ginny would never dare to repeat. He pulled Pansy so that the people in the road could see them better and grabbed her neck forcefully with both his hands.

"Trust me." He whispered in to Pansy's ear as his hands clamped down on her throat harder and harder. She managed a nod at which he choked her until she passed out.

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**Yes the shop assistant was weird and yes, he does have _some _relevance but not that much really! I made a spelling mistake when I wrote his first line and thought it actually sounded quite colloquial so I stuck with it... Not sure I should have but hey ho!!**


	23. The wilting flower

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday. Work was manic and I didn't get a chance to write in the evening either. **

**Lost Enchanter was very nice and mentioned my in her story Keep the faith and said that I update regularly so of course as soon as that was mentioned I missed a day lol!**

**(I'd like to note that I don't feel **_**obliged**_** to return the favour, I'm actually ****delighted**** to do so as it is a wonderful story.) **

**I'll try to update again tomorrow. Thanks as always for your reviews**

"Trust me." He whispered in to Pansy's ear as his hand clamped down on her throat harder and harder. She managed a nod at which he choked her until she passed out.

Arthur and Molly were shocked to say the least when they saw an unconscious girl hanging over Draco's shoulder. Ginny ran up to them to explain what happened but as she had no clear explanations why they had happened she just worried her parents. Draco wasn't much more help although he told them he thought it likely that she was caught up with Voldemort or his minions.

"I would suggest getting back and questioning her." Draco said indicating to the girl on his shoulder.

Arthur nodded and they made their way into the leaky cauldron. Arthur discreetly spoke to Tom, the current landlord, and arranged for a special room to be made available for them. He motioned to the rest of the group to follow him and led them to a wooden room with no windows and only the one door. Tom left them with a tray of drinks and took the very loud love birds to another room.

"Put her here." Arthur told Draco, indicating to a high backed mahogany chair. Once Draco had placed her, none too gently, on the chair Arthur indicated that he should join the rest of them in a semi circle of smaller padded chairs opposite the one occupied by Pansy.

Arthur pointed his wand at the raven haired girl and clearly spoke the spell to wake her. "Ennervate."

Pansy's head shot back quickly, her eyes wide as saucers. She jumped up as if to run for the door but several gnarled wooden hands burst forth from the chair and pulled her back down.

"Why did you try to run?" Arthur asked.

Pansy looked scared and confused but also a little feral, like an animal that knows it has been cornered and cannot escape. "Who are you?" she snarled. "Who sent you?"

Draco took off the magical watch. "For the second time today, it's Draco. Now Parkinson, answer the questions or you will seriously regret it."

The others followed suit and removed their charmed clothes. Pansy had a look of relief.

"Weasley's" she laughed and seemed to relax until Draco stood up quickly, causing his chair to shoot backwards with a screech. One look from Draco had Pansy cowering as far back in her seat as she could.

Arthur placed a restraining arm on Draco's shoulder, he could feel the young boy was shaking with anger and wondered what the girl was capable of or had done to him in the past.

In reality Draco was furious at the possibility that Ginny could have been hurt because of Parkinson. Draco was known for having a nasty temper; he just wasn't used to getting annoyed on another person's behalf. But then again he'd never been worried for anyone other than himself and his Mother. _How does that tiny red head have such an effect on me?_

"I think you should tell us what you know young lady. Draco seemed to think you were working for _you know_- For Voldemort." Arthur still found it hard to say the name but forced himself to do so.

Pansy looked as if she might spit at Arthur but she looked at Draco and bowed her head in defeat.

She explained in an almost toneless monologue that she had been told to wait around the shops until she sensed that a powerful witch or wizard was nearby. Once she knew this she had a few different tricks to pull depending on where that person headed. One was a spell she had been taught to release the spider in the menagerie, another was to cause a bookshelf to fall near the unsuspecting wizard should they be in the book shop and so on.

All these things were to force or scare them into the street where Pansy was to let out a whistle to signal a couple of Death Eaters who would spring out on their brooms and take the witch or wizard captive. Once they were taken they would be tortured to see if they knew any information about the Order and if not they would be put under the imperious curse to do Voldemort's bidding.

"You bitch." Yelled Draco, springing towards her with his hands outstretched. Arthur and Molly managed to grab him back before he could reach her and Molly tutted quietly. "Honestly Draco, such language!"

Despite the situation he was in Draco found his mouth apologising before his brain could engage. _How is it that the Weasley women have such control over me and the dangerous female in this scenario is cowering in a corner from me?_

"As soon as Voldemort found out I could sense the strength of magic in someone he sent people to find me. It was do as I was told or death Draco. What could I do?" Pansy hung her head. Draco knew at school that she had never seemed too keen on the whole Death Eater business but pretty much did as she was told.

"Well now you are dead. To them anyway. Congratulations." Draco muttered before sitting back down. He looked away and Ginny caught a look of regret and sadness in Pansy's eyes at his dismissal of her.

"Was it the shop keeper that told you about us?" Ginny asked. Pansy looked up at her with hatred. "That simpleton? No he's nothing but a mindless fool who gets on far too well with those animals if you ask me."

"Well it was that simpleton who warned us something was up." Draco snapped. "I've a good mind to go back and let that spider loose on you."

Pansy shuddered and looked imploringly at the furious blond. "Please, Draco. How can I make it up to you? You know I just wanted to be left alone. If you let me go then I'll hide myself from everybody, I just can't stand you hating me."

Draco felt a tiny pang of empathy for her. _Why do I choose now to suddenly get emotions?_ After all, he had tried to do a horrific thing under the orders of the Dark Lord. _Was what she did much worse?_

"How many?" He asked. Pansy looked confused. "How many people did you condemn to torture and worse?"

Finally Pansy's hard shell broke, she started sobbing and shaking. "Four." She managed to croak out. "Four people and may I be damned for it." She threw her hands over her eyes as if to shut out the world and wept into the arm of the chair.

Draco felt so sorry for this pathetic creature that he took a glass of water from their tray and gently handed it to her. Pansy looked up in surprise that he would perform such a kind act. "You've changed." She whispered, Draco merely nodded and turned to the others.

"This could have been me." He said quietly.


	24. Madeye & Green eyed

**harrypotterchick4ever that would be telling now wouldn't it?!! **

**For all those that are worried, Pansy will stir things up a little for a few of our characters (JK Rowling's characters which I have temporarily stolen!) but she's actually not going to feature _that_ much until a bit later in the story (as you'll see in this chapter...) and even then she won't be too prominent.**

**Her presence will be felt for a while though lol! **

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"This could have been me." He said quietly.

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Arthur told them he was going to speak to Remus, if Tom had an available fireplace. "Remus has been in the Order a lot longer than Molly or I have and he's the most sensible and experienced person I can think to talk to at the moment." 

Once Arthur had left the room there was an awkward silence. Pansy kept opening her mouth as if to say something to Draco and then changing her mind.

"Oh spit it out and be done with it will you?" Draco finally snapped at her.

Pansy looked at him with haunted eyes. "It was nothing personal Draco. I didn't know who you were. I just felt two powerful presences and informed the people I was supposed to."

"Couldn't you have lied? Pretended you didn't feel anything." Ginny asked. Pansy looked at her with an unreadable face.

"No." Pansy shook her head vehemently. "Voldemort said he would send a few Death Eaters through to test me. I can't tell people apart by their power so if I had failed to notice them he would have known and killed me."

"Did I hear you say two powerful presences?" Came a voice from the door. All heads turned to look at Remus; obviously he thought the situation was serious enough for him to come personally. "Remus. You came!" smiled Molly

Pansy's eyes widened slightly, she could feel a lot of power coming from Remus. She nodded to him in agreement with his question. The scrawny witch had given up hope of fighting or lying her way out of the situation and decided to just go along until she could escape and hide herself away.

"Draco, Arthur has told me what happened today but it was a little patchy. Can you tell me how you saved Ginny?"

"I Accioed her?" Draco said, wondering why he was being questioned and not Pansy.

"Draco you have no wand. You did wandless magic. To be able to control wandless magic is extremely hard. Young witches and wizards sometimes let out small bursts of magic but to do it as an adult you need rigorous training and even then some people cannot master it. Have you done this before?"

"Not that I know of. I just wanted her back safely. I just thought the spell and it worked."

"Interesting." Mulled Remus; thinking hard on something. He seemed to make up his mind and focused on the dark haired girl still held into the chair. "Now as for our little problem here, things will have to work much the same as they did for Draco. You will be questioned and held until we can decide what you know and what to do with you. Draco has proved himself but I have a feeling you are going to be a lot more trouble. For that reason I'm going to suggest that you are placed with Moody's team."

Pansy looked wildly at Remus; she had heard many stories about "Mad-Eye" Moody and the way he dealt with Death Eaters and their kind. "W-Will I be with Draco?" she asked.

Ginny, unnoticed for the moment, clenched her fists and prayed fervently that Pansy would not make Draco go with her. Ginny hated herself for it but she was jealous at the thought of Draco being taken away. He said he just wanted to be her friend but she realised that the thought of him with someone else, especially Pansy was just too much for her.

Remus shook his head. "No. That would be altogether too dangerous. Particularly since you have admitted to trying to give Draco and Ginny over to Voldemort." Ginny let out the breath that she hadn't realised she was holding.

"I didn't know it was him." Pansy whined and clawed desperately at the wooden hands holding her down.

"Irrelevant I'm afraid." Remus could see her fear and while he didn't trust the girl he didn't want her to be so scared she would do anything to get away. _She may have valuable information_. "Moody will not hurt you unless he had due cause. He will not torture you to gain information although he may use veritaserum and leglimency. If you behave yourself then your time there should be perfectly tolerable."

Pansy swallowed heavily and her eyes flicked between the people in the room. Remus spoke again.

"I will take you there now. I will have to blindfold you."

Pansy squirmed violently. "No, you might bite me… I know all about you!"

"As does everyone Pansy." Draco cut in. "I've made him the wolfsbane potion. He won't hurt you. Pans really, this is for the best."

"Why are you doing this Draco, why are you letting them take me? I thought I was your friend. Help me." Draco looked at the others in the room.

"Remus, she will go with you, can I just have a moment on my own with her?"

Remus nodded and everyone made their way from the room. Ginny paused by the door and looked at Draco. "Be careful." She whispered. Draco nodded to her and closed the door behind her.

"Pansy, I know you never wanted to be a Death Eater or have anything to do with them. I also know that despite that you're a devious cow and you'd lie about anything to get your own way." Pansy went to speak but Draco silenced her with a look.

"These people will know if you are lying. You asked me why I'm doing this? Because these people have treated me better than I've ever been treated, they have respect for me and I don't have to watch my back every last second. I felt freer being their prisoner than I ever did being a willing member of Voldemort's followers." Draco raked his hands through his hair and tried to get through to her.

"You trusted me enough to let me choke you in a street full of people - trust me a little more. If you do as they tell you then they will help to hide you better than you could ever hope to hide yourself. Please Pans. I _am_ your friend. You've always done what I told you before."

Pansy nodded slowly. "I'll do as you say Draco. It's not like I have much choice. I guess you have always been my friend, but it's never been like you and that Weasley girl are. What's going on with you?"

Draco sighed. Pansy did know him better than he thought. "We're friends. I like her, a lot I guess. But we're just friends. She's still pining after Potter."

A mischievous look glinted in Pansy's dark eyes. "Tell them they can come in now. I'll go with the wolfman if you say he's safe. But if anything happens to me then on your conscience be it... seeing as you seem to have one now!"

Draco nodded and called the others back. Ginny was first, she shot in and positioned herself close to Draco. The playful look in Pansy's eyes magnified.

"Come on then Wolfy." She smirked. "You know, I can be a bit of an animal myself when I get going! You want to find out?"

Molly gasped in shock and Draco rolled his eyes. "Behave Pans." He said as Remus waved his wand to make the many handed chair turn back to normal. Remus ignored her lewd suggestion and kept his wand on her. "The blindfold please Arthur."

Arthur stepped forward but Pansy said. "Please, can Draco do it? I trust him." Arthur looked at Remus who nodded and Draco took the blindfold. As he stepped towards her she threw both arms around him and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. "For luck." She said throwing Ginny a look from the corner of her eye and smirking.

Draco tied the blindfold and said. "You'll be fine Pans. I'll see you soon. For Merlin's sake Remus get her to eat something, she's completely starved." Remus led Pansy out and down the corridor, being very careful not to let her bump into anything.

"Let's floo back." Molly said sighing. Arthur took her hand and they started walking towards the room where they could Floo to the house.

Draco turned to look at Ginny and was shocked when she pushed roughly past him.


	25. A knight in tarnished armour

**I know I'm kind of drawing things out between them, sorry! Don't despair though, give me a couple of chapters and they will admit their feelings (and possibly have a good snog!). **

**I just kind of feel that there are a lot of obstacles for them to overcome and that all these problems should make their relationship better because they've been through the works!!**

* * *

Draco turned to look at Ginny and was shocked when she pushed roughly past him.

* * *

Ginny barely spoke a word to Draco while they waited for Tom to get them some floo powder. Molly was praising Draco for saving two of her babies. Even Arthur was treating him as an honorary Weasley; Draco just about managed not to shudder over this. He had quite taken to the Weasley's that he'd met, except Ron of course, but he still wouldn't want to be one. 

Tom explained when he returned that he had just received word that the people who had witnessed the earlier events were all very confused. When questioned they could really only remember snippets of a young girl being attacked by a dementor and then a silver bird flying round and chasing it off. After that all they could remember was that the girl was dead, everyone assumed that she had been given the kiss and the shock had broken her already frail body.

He shook his head. "Those dementors are all over the place now. We've had three attacks in as many weeks. I'm glad you guys are around to help out." he handed them the floo powder and Molly handed it out to each in turn.

Draco wondered what was wrong with Ginny but knew better than to ask her in front of her parents. He'd learned from experience that girls hated that.

As soon as they returned home Ginny started straight up the stairs, telling her parents she wanted to freshen up. Draco made the same excuse and ran up the stairs after her, he caught up with her just as she was about to go into her room. Reaching out he grabbed Ginny's arm and as he pulled her round he asked what was wrong.

"There's nothing wrong Malfoy." Ginny said through gritted teeth.

"Why are you not talking to me then? Why are you calling me Malfoy again and not Draco?" he asked a little perturbed.

"I felt it a little inappropriate now that you're back with Parkinson. Sorry I mean _Pans_." Ginny said snootily, trying to turn back and enter her room. Draco didn't let go of her arm.

"Ginny, we're just friends."

Ginny's eyes narrowed and her cheeks flushed. "Just friends huh. Just _friends_. I've heard that one before. Tell me, do you make a habit of kissing all the girls you claim are just friends?"

Draco thought he knew what this was about. "Ginny, I already told you that I didn't know what else to do. I thought you were ok with that. I'm not going to make a move on you if that's what you're worried about."

"I KNOW YOU'RE NOT!" Ginny shrieked at the top of her voice.

Draco shook his head sadly. "I don't understand Ginny."

Tears brimmed in Ginny's eyes. "You wouldn't. You- you man." She wrenched her arm free from his grip and ran to her room slamming the door behind her.

Draco stood dumbfounded for a moment before his anger got the better of him. He punched his fist into the wall and swore several times. "What the hell is her problem?" he snarled.

"You." Came a voice from the shadows. Draco whipped round as quickly as possible to see Hermione pushing away from the wall where she had hidden in the shadows of the tall dark cupboards to avoid Ginny's wrath - she recognised a full on Weasley tantrum when she saw it.

"What do you mean _me_?" Draco demanded, angry that Granger was being a know-it-all again. "I thought we were friends."

Hermione nodded, "That's just the problem; she doesn't want to be your friend Draco."

Draco's heart sank into his stomach. "But why?" he whispered. "I thought we were getting along so well. I don't think I've ever been so nice to someone without an ulterior motive."

"That's your trouble," Hermione told him. "You've been nice to her, treated her as an individual with her own qualities. Seen her for who she really is."

Draco could feel his temper rising and he knew that he wouldn't feel too bad at taking it out on Granger. She seemed to know something so he had to play along for now, however he only had a limited patience.

"Granger, can you cut the riddle shit and tell me what's going on?" Hermione looked up at him; she stared into his eyes for quite some time before speaking. "I owe you so much for saving Ron's life, I doubt I can ever repay you… I'll tell you, but _I_ didn't tell you, if you see what I mean."

Draco cottoned on to her straight away. He wasn't in Slytherin for nothing. "Fine, I didn't come by this information from you. I get it Granger. I'm not an idiot."

Hermione sighed. "Ginny doesn't want to be your friend. She wants to be something more. And from what I can tell so do you. It's just you're both so scared of the thought that you've convinced yourselves otherwise."

She looked up at him and smiled at the shock on his face. "Ginny's always wanted a knight in shining armour. I'm sure she won't mind that it got slightly tarnished along the way… You're going a long way to cleaning up your act anyway. Two Weasley lives saved already. Who'd have known?"

Draco stood there in shock. Hermione turned and walked quickly back to Ron's room before he could react or ask more questions. _Granger's playing with me_. Draco thought. Although thinking back on Ginny's words it did make a kind of sense to him. _Plus I am pretty much perfect, and gorgeous. _He'd never liked the idea of being a hero, but from what he'd heard _real _knights weren't always overly noble and still always got the lady which suited him just fine.

Draco walked back to his room with a bit of a swagger. The fact that he was so transparent that even Granger could see he liked Ginny wasn't good but he shrugged it off. Draco decided he'd let Ginny cool off for a little bit and then he'd go and see if Granger was right.

* * *

Ginny sat on her bed crying. At first she'd been mad and had thrown things around her room, but then she calmed down a little and realised her anger was pointless. 

_I'm being stupid and childish and mean_. She thought. _I think I know deep down Draco doesn't really want Pansy. But he doesn't want me either and I'm no good at being just friends with someone I care about. I had to practically ignore Harry until I stopped with my stupid crush on him._

She did have to live with him for now though. Trying to avoid him just wouldn't work. She'd just have to battle it out and be grown up about it. _I can't be a little girl anymore, no one can these days. _

She sighed, dried her eyes and hid any puffiness with her wand. She remembered one of her friends telling her when she fancied Harry that she should wear hardly any clothes, lots of make-up and flirt like mad. Ginny just wasn't like that though and couldn't do that with Draco either. He'd probably think she'd gone mad.

She decided that in the morning she would apologise to Draco and try to hold her tongue from now on. Being with him as a friend had to be better than being without him at all.

Ginny was just about to change into her nightwear when the charm around her neck warmed up. She ran to the medical room as quickly as she could and found Madam Pomfry waiting for her.

"Death Eaters have attacked a village Ginny. There are so many injured people being taken to the infirmary, I'll need your help. I've told your parents already. No time for anything, I'll find some spare clothes for you if needed."

Ginny found herself being whisked off for who knows how long and not even being able to say sorry or goodbye to Draco.


	26. Absence makes the heart grow fonder

**This is going to be a very long chapter. I didn't want to split it into two (which I easily could have!) so I condensed a fair bit but not enough to ruin the feel of the conversations. **

**I thought you guys had waited so long for a romantic scene between them that it would be cruel for me to drag it out!! So anyway, romance should be in the next chapter but it may have to be the one after depending on how everything goes. **

**Do you know what? I've just realised that I've been spelling Pomfrey wrong all this time. I will get round to changing the old chapters eventually but sorry about that!**

* * *

Ginny found herself being whisked off for who knows how long and not even being able to say sorry or goodbye to Draco.

* * *

When he considered enough time had passed for Ginny to have calmed down, Draco changed in to some of his new clothes, put on a little of his favourite aftershave and looked in the mirror. He was happy with his appearance except for his hair. It was so long now that he could tie it back. Looking like Lucius was the last thing he wanted. Plus, long hair was really only fashionable amongst the older gentlemen of the wizarding world. 

He was just deliberating trying to spell his hair shorter when there was a knock on the door. _Shit, what if she's come to apologise? My hair's not right yet._

"Who is it?" he asked.

"It's Tonks. Can I come in? I need to talk to you."

Draco breathed a sigh of relief. He yanked open the door and pulled Tonks in quickly. She opened her mouth to say something but he was faster. "Tonks do you know a spell to cut my hair?" Tonks looked excited and forgot for a second why she had come. "I sure do! I have an advantage you see… because I can change my hair whenever I want, I used to try loads of different haircuts and if they didn't work I'd just grow my hair back! What are you after? Can I try something new??"

Draco thought about it for a moment. "Well I don't want to look stupid. Unlike you, I can't grow my hair back without a spell; even then I don't know if it would work."

"Trust me!" Tonks cried pushing him down into the sole chair in the room.

"Hmm, Ok then. But if you mess it up you have to make it better." Draco still looked a little apprehensive.

Tonks started muttering and waving her wand about; in next to no time she had finished and asked Draco to take a look. He hated to acknowledge it but she'd actually done a great job. His hair was still a reasonable length but was shaped round his face and a little at the back. He had to admit, it made him look even more handsome than before.

Draco turned, grabbed Tonks round the waist and swung her round once in a circle. "You are so definitely my cousin. Who else could have such good taste?" He smiled.

"Wow. A compliment!!" Tonks laughed back. "The rest of your family can go screw themselves but you're ok. Yes. I think I like having you as my little cousin!"

Draco felt excellent. There was no way Ginny could turn him down now. "I've got to go see Ginny now Tonks but I'll catch up with you later."

Tonks' face fell. "Oh, Draco. That's why I came. Ginny's went with Poppy to help heal the injured. The Death Eaters attacked a whole town, it was awful. We had no warning. There was nothing we could do." Tonks looked so thoroughly miserable that Draco reached out and rubbed her back a little. He didn't feel so great himself though. He couldn't help but wonder if she had left because of him.

"When will she be back?" he asked in a morose tone. Tonks looked at him quizzically. "Is this why you wanted your hair cut? Are you sweet on her?" she got a sly grin on her face.

"Don't be silly." Draco said far too quickly.

"You _are_. Draco Malfoy, you fancy a Weasley! How simply wonderful." She did a little dance.

"Sssshh." Draco hissed. "Stop saying that. Someone might hear."

Tonks stopped dancing and looked at him. "Are you ashamed Draco?"

"No! It's not that." He said looking down at his shoes and hating that women could make him do something so un-Malfoy like.

"Well if you're worried about Arthur and Molly you needn't be. They think you're the best thing since - Oh, what is it Arthur says… since bread or something. Anyway, they like you, end of problem."

Draco sat down heavily on his bed and sighed. "What if _she_ doesn't?" he said finally, glad to get the worry off his chest. "I mean, she didn't say goodbye and the last time I saw her she shouted at me." He sighed again and raked his hand through his newly cut hair. The one thing that bothered him most about all this was her past relationship… "I'm no Potter - for which I thank Merlin – but that's what Ginny wants."

"Is it?" asked Tonks. "It's what all girls think they want but in reality it's often a bit of a letdown. Look at me, I thought I wanted a perfect stereotypical hero all my life but when I met Remus he was so… exciting I guess. And a great bloke to boot. I have the best of both worlds."

Draco looked up at her hopefully. He had one last worry and he found it hard to even admit to himself that he felt this way. He'd always tried to disguise any doubts he had with bravado. Usually he could push the thoughts to a space in his head and lock them away but his feelings for Ginny were proving to be quite powerful. After a pause he decided to bare his fear to Tonks... "Do you really think I'm good enough for her?"

Tonks nodded. "Actually I do. If someone had asked me that question a month ago I would have thought they were crazy but you really have proven your worth. You know, Harry _is_ a great guy-" she held her hand up before Draco could get angry with her. "But, I just never felt he and Ginny were right. It was always too awkward between them. Ginny was too scared to fully express herself. She needs someone she can open up to, and shout at if she wants. Harry needs someone who will stand up to him. He needs someone to be strong for him because he has to be strong the rest of the time. I mean Hermione would have been perfect if she wasn't so in love with Ron!" Tonks shook her head.

"Anyway. I have no idea how long Ginny will be gone. Last time she had to go she was away for weeks. And to put your mind at rest, she didn't say goodbye to anyone – not even her parents or Ron. Penny sent word that she would need help before she even arrived."

Draco's emotions were in a mess. All he wanted to do was go and see Ginny and find out if all this was true and yet that was the last thing he could do. He'd have to wait it out. At least he'd have a bit more time to work out exactly what to say to her.

* * *

Ginny was exhausted, since the second they had apparated into the infirmary she had been non stop healing people. Some were muggles and some were magical. Many of them were in critical states. She had to use every morsel of knowledge she had to prevent these people from dying. It was hard to concentrate and know what to do when she was so fatigued but somehow her adrenalin managed to get her through. 

Now that some of the lesser wounded people had been healed they were trying to help heal others so Ginny had a chance for a quick break. One of the muggle girls who she had healed found her leaning with her head against the cool wall.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you." The young girl started to back away.

"No, please stay." Ginny called. "It's nice to get to talk to someone for a minute. It helps ground me a little."

The girl gave Ginny a small smile, she seemed a little shy. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping me. I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to be allowed to remember all this - Magic, I'd always hoped…" she trailed off, her eyes wide with the wonder of finding out all the stories she had been told were actually true. Ginny smiled sadly at the girl who shook her head as if to clear it.

"Anyway, like I was saying. I would imagine that you guys will be doing something to make me forget all of this. So I just wanted to say thank you for helping us. One of the men back there was angry and saying that we should have been told about you. He thinks that you would be able to help with all of our problems, you know wars and stuff? But you're helping us now so the way I see it is if you could have helped, you would have, right?"

Ginny nodded. "We have enough problems of our own that we can't fix. Being able to do magic is helpful but it's not a cure-all I'm afraid. We aren't able to do just anything we wanted to anyway, you have to have enough power to wield a spell and know what to do. Something's just aren't possible no matter how strong you are. It's not like we can bring people back from the dead." She smiled wryly.

"But thank you for being so understanding. The reason we don't tell people is that we are afraid most would act as that man did. I can't blame him though, my father had one of your muggle books at home and he showed me – what was it called… - Superman! Now if I suddenly found out he was real I'd be angry that he hadn't been helping everyone. But I know in reality nothing is that easy."

The young girl smiled hesitantly. "There was one thing I wanted to ask though. Do you really have love potions? It's just this guy I'm really keen on and I'm scared to tell him in case he doesn't feel the same and it ruins the friendship we have. I though maybe a love potion might help. Y'know I could hide it and label it so I'd still know what it was after you guys magic me stupid again…"

Ginny shook her head. "I could but they're not worth it. They can't create real love, just a fake version of it. Wouldn't you want to know that someone loves you for you and not because you forced them to?" the girl nodded sadly.

"I think you should just tell him how you feel and hope for the best. I honestly believe that if he turns you down it wasn't meant to be. There's no point hiding away from your feelings. You will end up regretting it."

She got another nod of agreement; the young girl seemed to get some courage up. "You're right. Lying about it would only make me miserable. I'm going to tell him. If he says no then we should be good enough friends to work through any awkwardness. Thanks. You're amazing." To Ginny's surprise the small girl kissed her cheek and ran back towards the bed of a young man who had just been healed by Madam Pomfrey. She held his hand and started talking quickly to him. The young man got a strange look in his eyes and then wrapped both of his arms round the girl and pulled her towards him for a loving kiss.

_Obviously that worked well_. Thought Ginny. She sighed, _if only things were so simple for me. _

She went back to work and found a man who was in serious trouble. He had lost lots of blood from a severe gash to his leg and was covered in smaller wounds. Ginny slowed the bleeding and tried to heal up the wound with a spell but it was too large.

"Poppy?" Ginny yelled. Madam Pomfrey ran over quickly, she knew Ginny wouldn't call her without due cause.

One look at the man told her all she needed to know; she pulled Ginny a little way back so the man wouldn't hear them. "I'm sorry Ginny, we can't do anything. He's been hit with too much and his body is fading fast. Even if we'd gotten to him straight away I doubt it would have helped."

Ginny felt tears well up in her eyes but forced herself not to let them fall. She nodded her head once to Pomfrey and walked back to the bed slowly. She cast a spell so that the gentleman would feel as little pain as possible but he seemed beyond pain now anyway. "Can I get you anything?" she asked.

The man looked into her eyes and softly reached for her hand. "Don't cry little one." He murmured. "I know I'm not long for this world. But it's ok; I'm going to find my love. She died a few months ago in an attack and I never got to tell her how I felt; I've not really been me since she went. At least now I can be with her again and tell her how much I love her." He smiled and lay back gently on the bed. "You're a good girl." He told Ginny before closing his eyes and slipping away.

Ginny couldn't take it, she ran from the room with tears falling fast. She threw herself into a chair and sobs wracked her body. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder; she turned to find the young girl from earlier.

"Don't cry please? That man's gone to a better place. I believe it with all my heart." Ginny sniffed a little and somehow managed to still the flood of tears. The girl handed her a small handkerchief. "We're going now, he loves me too! We've been told we're being taken somewhere safe so I won't see you again. Or recognise you even if I did. Keep the kerchief to remember me. And thank you again"

The young man was calling to her so she gave Ginny one last smile and ran to the warm arms of her man.

Ginny decided that there were more important things to be doing than crying. She dried her eyes and got ready to help more people. As she put the handkerchief in her pocket she noticed that it was embroidered with little hearts on each corner. She knew that she had to tell Draco how she felt_. I might regret it for the rest of my life if I don't._


	27. Wedding Bells

**Woohoo - the wedding is here lol! Thank you all for your reviews. I haven't had a lot of time so sorry if I didn't get round to replying. I did read them all though so thanks!**

**No snogging yet, sorry. Next chapter I hope.**

**

* * *

**She knew that she had to tell Draco how she felt_. I might regret it for the rest of my life if I don't._

* * *

Ginny stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a giant fluffy towel. The last of the patients had now been taken by ministry officials to be re-homed; several of them were having their memories wiped first. It had been a long week; one of the patients in particular had had a bad reaction to the spells used on them. Ginny had never heard of it before but apparently some people could be allergic to magical treatment so they had had to use very weak potions instead and hope for the best. Luckily enough it seemed to have worked fine but it had meant their recovery was slow.

Tomorrow she could go home. It was a nice thought but nerve-wracking all the same. Over the last few days she had thought of Draco a lot, she hadn't realised quite how much of a hold he had over her heart until she had to leave him. Such a bond had formed over a short space of time.

Ginny was drying her hair and going over the things she'd planned to say to him when an owl flew in through a tiny window and landed on the sink. Ginny reached out, took the message from it and looked around for a treat to give the owl, all she could find were a few raisins but the owl seemed quite happy with them.

The owl flew back out as Ginny unravelled the parchment. She let out a little cry of joy. It was a letter from her mother…

_Hello my little Ginny,_

_I know you have been very busy this last week (for which I'm very proud of you) so I'm not sure if you're aware of the date tomorrow. The 16th - it is Bill's wedding! My boy will be getting married tomorrow!_

_We didn't want to bother you with any last minute details as Draco has told us that you have all you need in your room. He's such a nice boy._

_I can't believe I haven't seen your bridesmaid dress but it will be a nice surprise to see what you chose._

_Your dad has arranged a ministry car to collect you tomorrow with all your bags (Don't worry my love, I didn't look through anything. I know how you like your privacy which is fine by me. A girl's got to have a little something to herself in a house full of men.) _

_Anyway, the car will be there for you at 8 so get a good night's sleep. The driver will help you with your bags to the room which is waiting for you. We won't see you until the ceremony as you and Fleur's sister will be getting ready along with Fleur and get to make a grand entrance!_

_Anyway, there is a lot to do here. We are leaving tonight so we can help Mr and Mrs Delacour with the decorations and anything else that needs doing in the morning. _

_I've missed you my love. I hope everything has been ok and you haven't been under too much stress. _

_All my love,_

_Mum._

_x_

Ginny folded the letter up and smiled to herself, not only was she going to see all of her family but she had an excuse to get all dressed up. At least this way she would be looking her best when she saw Draco.

* * *

The last week had been fairly miserable for Draco; he'd spent most of his time in the room he had found that was full of books. However it seemed that every time he started to get into a book someone would come and interrupt him. Molly kept mothering him and was always bringing him drinks and food. While this was a nice gesture it did remind him of Ginny – the one person he was trying not to think about. 

Arthur would pop in every now and again to show Draco some peculiar muggle devices. Draco couldn't quite see the point when you could achieve the same results with magic but he humoured Arthur all the same. To not have done so would be like kicking a giant puppy. Draco knew he had a mean streak but that would be going too far!

Remus was possibly his worst visitor; he plagued Draco with questions and tested him on wandless magic and other things. Draco was fascinated and he was learning a lot but his heart wasn't really in it. He couldn't help but think that if Ginny were here to watch and compliment him it would all be so much more enjoyable.

Whenever Tonks came in she would just sit quietly for a while or flick through some books. Quite often she would tell Draco that Madam Pomfrey had sent a message saying all was well but Ginny wouldn't be back that day. Draco appreciated her coming but each time a message came he hoped it would have different news; each time his hopes were dashed. He was just glad that the Weasel king and Granger hadn't stayed long after Ron had recovered. That would really have driven him mad…

Now here he was, on the morning of a Weasley's wedding waiting to celebrate with them all. He couldn't believe he was here but he was surprisingly happy that he was. Tonks had warned Draco not to stare at Bill as he was scarred from a werewolf attack but had only been partially affected. Draco's mind had gone into overdrive at that point; he was filled with ideas of altering the wolfsbane potion. If Bill wasn't completely affected and if Draco could strengthen the potion then he may be able to cure Bill. Of course it wouldn't work on a fully blown lycanthrope as to make the potion strong enough to rid them of the werewolf genes would kill them.

Draco decided to put it out of his mind for now. He wasn't going to mention it until he was fairly sure it could be done. Straightening his dark blue dress robes he walked to where Mrs Weasley was to see if there was anything further he could help with. He'd proven to be very adept at decorating, so good in fact that he insisted upon doing it all himself – spending so much time with his mother preparing for balls, dinners and other events seemed to have left him with a flair for aesthetics.

Molly smiled at him. "I think we're all done now dear. You've been such a help. Thank you." She bustle off saying that she needed to get ready and Draco was left standing by himself.

He looked around once more to make sure everything was perfect, he was pretty pleased with his efforts. Fleur had chosen a beautiful old country house covered in climbing flowers and with a lovely orchard out the back. The house had a large oak staircase and Fleur wanted to make her grand entrance there; Bill was to be waiting for her on the landing and they would descend together. Draco had to admire her style. _That girl knows how to put on a good show._ He thought.

He had decorated the stairs with sparkling silver ribbons and made delicate blue flowers bloom and wind their way around the banisters. The theme spread round the house and into the orchard – beautiful blue flowers could be seen springing up everywhere. Draco had also adorned all the trees and bushes with silver gems which were catching the sunlight wonderfully. Little did everyone know but he had charmed them so that when the night came upon them the gems would each omit a faint glow so that the clearing could look like it was lit by hundreds of fairies.

He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of someone clearing their throat. He turned and saw a tall and well built Weasley, judging from the scars it had to be Bill.

"You must be Bill" Draco said politely, looking as though Bill's face wasn't marred in anyway. He held his hand out to shake; Bill looked at it for a second before grabbing Draco and pulling him in for a big bear hug. Draco was shocked but managed to give Bill a manly smack on the back in return.

"Draco Malfoy. I've heard a lot about you. Most of it bad I'm afraid to say, but your recent actions have more than made up for any rubbish Ron used to spout." Bill said this with a grin. "I want to thank you for saving my baby sister and of course Ronald. But I'd also like to show my appreciation for all the hard work you've put in here today. Fleur will absolutely love all you've done. It will make her day knowing that she's going to have the best decorated and stylish wedding of the year. I know she was nervous leaving the decorating to other people but you've excelled her hopes I think. It must be the French ancestry!"

Draco managed to look modest; he was good with controlling his faces and emotions. Bill lost his smile and turned serious. "I'd like you to honour me by being an usher. My friend has been unavoidably detained trying to break a curse so we're one short."

Draco was shocked for the second time. "Shouldn't you choose one of your brothers?"

Bill shook his head. "How could I choose just one? It's all or nothing and I can't have the whole family traipsing down the aisle with me. Plus can you imagine what havoc the twins would cause? No I think you're the man for the job."

"If you're sure." Draco said - glad he had worn robes that tied in with the wedding colours. "What do I have to do?"

Bill's grin returned. "Excellent mate. Basically you have to try to keep everything as smooth as possible. Show people to their seats and then take your seat at the front with the family. Once the vows are over you need to accompany one of the bridesmaids back down the aisle after us and halfway through our first dance Fleur wants the ushers to lead the bridesmaids up to dance too."

Draco nodded. Bill said that he should get into his position as Fleur would kill him if he were late.

People were starting to filter in so Draco began his duties. A couple of people seemed a little shocked to see a Malfoy as a part of the Weasley wedding party but they were all too polite to say. Their eyes widened even more when Arthur came down and gave Draco a fatherly pat on the back and Molly bestowed him with a kiss on the cheek.

When Ron and Hermione turned up and caught sight of Draco they looked at each other with slight worry, Harry was close behind them and he stopped still when he saw Draco. Hermione started speaking to him very quickly.

"Harry, before you do anything let me explain." Harry turned to her. "You seem to know he would be here? What's going on? Why didn't you say something?" Harry looked a little betrayed. Ron put his hand on Harry's arm.

"Harry mate, it's my fault. I didn't want you to be distracted at all. The stuff you've been doing is really dangerous and you needed to concentrate. Mum invited him; it's not just me that he saved. He stopped Ginny from being killed too. Mione and I don't want him here any more than you do but for mum's sake we can't say anything."

Harry pulled a face but nodded in understanding. The trio walked towards the rows of blue and silver seats that had been laid out in the large clearing in the orchard. As they approached Draco he looked up and caught Harry's eye; both of them narrowed their eyes in looks of hatred. Draco held an order of service out and forced a smile on his face. "Can I show you to your seats?" he asked.

"We're more than capable of finding them ourselves thank you Malfoy." Harry said snatching the booklet from Draco's hand. Ron followed silently not able to be rude to someone who saved him but not wanting to befriend him either. Hermione shook her head at them both.

"You can show me Draco." She said taking her booklet gently. Harry and Ron both looked at her as if she'd gone mad. Draco smiled and escorted her to a row quite near the front on the groom's side. He went to show more people in and Ron and Harry both started moaning at her for consorting with the enemy. She tutted at them.

"Listen to you two, it's meant to be a nice day. Ronald, you should be ashamed - Draco saved your life and you owe him. Harry, I know you have bad feelings between you but for today can you at least be civil."

"I don't trust him Hermione. Not one bit. He's got to be up to something. I've said it before and been right, I'm right this time." Harry snapped.

"Harry, he has proven himself. You might not like it but if even Tonks can accept him then I think you should at least not be so obviously rude."

Harry looked as though he was going to throw a fit. Finally he slumped in his chair a little. "Fine. But only because I don't want to ruin Bill's day. If he so much as steps a toe out of line I'll be onto him."

Suddenly music started and Draco and Bill's best man made their way to the front to take their places. Everyone turned and looked through the big double doors to the staircase where Bill was waiting for Fleur, when she appeared Bill's smile couldn't have been wider, she had a huge white dress on with tiny blue flowers embroidered over the bodice and down the train. There were beads and sequins sewn on to look like vines linking the flowers together; Draco's decorations couldn't have been better if he had seen the dress in advance. Ginny and Fleur's sister followed with bouquets of blue flowers.

The couple slowly descended and walked out into the garden and through the middle of where all the guests were seated. Most eyes followed them to the front but both Draco and Harry were still watching Ginny. Both boys were thinking that they had never seen her look more beautiful.


	28. It wouldn't work

**I apologise in advance. This is going to be an **_**extremely**_** long chapter. But as I promised several people I will write as many words as necessary to ensure there is romance in this chapter!! So sorry if it's a bit of a read but I had a lot to get through!**

**When you're reading Fleur don't forget to read in a French accent lol!!**

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Most eyes followed them to the front but both Draco and Harry were still watching Ginny. Both boys were thinking that they had never seen her look more beautiful.

* * *

Ginny had been so excited when she woke up that morning. She had felt as though her heart was beating like a drum when she heard the car pull up. A short journey later and she was seeing the wedding location for the first time. Fleur had kept it a secret and Ginny didn't blame her when she saw how beautiful the place was. Fleur came out herself to see Ginny. 

"Ginny, you are here!" Fleur exclaimed. "Ce fantastique! I 'ave been thinking you may be late but you are very – what is ze word – prompt? Just think my Ginny – a few hours and I will be a Weasley and you will be my petite soeur - a little sister to me!" Fleur had been working hard on her accent to impress Bill but Ginny knew that he had a big surprise for her. Ginny kissed her on each cheek; for Bill's sake she had gotten to know Fleur better and although she still had certain reservations about the girl, she had accepted her into her life.

The girls went up to a large room that had been specially prepared as a dressing room. Fleur's younger sister Gabrielle was waiting there and seemed very excited to see Ginny. She said something in French to Fleur. "Gabrielle says that you are looking belle as ever Ginny and she ees most happy to be soon a relation to you."

Ginny smiled bashfully. "Tell her she has grown even lovelier since I last saw her and it is my pleasure to have ladies with such taste to be joining our family." Secretly Ginny was glad that Fleur's sister didn't seem to be quite as snooty as Fleur had been but she kept her thoughts to herself.

The three girls had a wonderful morning; Fleur's mother popped in frequently giving them advice on make-up spells which Fleur translated for Ginny. Mrs Delacour told Fleur that she had the most wonderful blemish cream if Ginny wanted it for her freckles. Fleur translated this but to Ginny's astonishment also added that she thought they gave Ginny character and she should be proud of them.

The girls started to get dressed and both Ginny and Gabrielle squealed with pleasure when Fleur came out of the second room in her wonderful dress. "You look beautiful beyond compare." Ginny said - Fleur translated to her sister without any embarrassment, as part Veela she was used to people telling her so.

Gabrielle nodded in agreement; her own dress was a pale blue floaty chiffon number with a large silver sash. Being only eleven it was a young girl's style of dress but she looked striking just the same. Fleur had wanted blue and silver as her colour scheme as it matched her hair and eyes - which so happened to be her favourite colours.

When Ginny took her dress from its cover Fleur sighed. "Ah Ginny. Such good taste. You and Gabrielle will make such beauties in all ze pictures. I am thankful that you have chosen such a wonderful dress. Thank you for making me day so pretty."

Ginny was amazed that Fleur was so attentive to them on her day; she was used to Fleur being very self absorbed. "Actually Draco Malfoy chose it for me so you owe your thanks to him. But I am glad that you are pleased!"

Fleur smiled. "Ah – zis ees the boy who my mother speaks of. He does all ze decorations wonderfully she says." Before Ginny could question her, Fleur let out a little cry. "Mon dieu – look at ze time. We must on with ze make-up and hair. Quick, quick." She clapped her hands and Ginny and Gabrielle rushed to get ready.

Ginny opened her bag and saw a little box wrapped in tissue paper. There was a little tag which she read…

_Ginny, _

_This is the first proper gift I have ever given anyone apart from my Mother._

_I hope it is acceptable. It should match the dress._

_Yours,_

_Draco._

Ginny remembered – the jewellery. He wouldn't let her see! She teased open the tissue paper and could see something twinkling inside. Fleur saw her and came over for a closer look. "Ginny – zis is very expensive make. It is a Henry Amor set. You have certainly been saving ze knuts… Or pennies as your father says!" Fleur had been trying hard to fit in with Ginny's family.

"Draco again." Ginny gasped pulling out the presents from the paper. The first item she pulled out was a ring; it was a small silver flower with the middle made from several minute sparkling gem stones. The flower had seven petals and at the end of each was another tiny piece of a gem stone. There were matching earrings and a necklace with several of the little flowers hanging delicately from it. She was confused for a moment when she pulled out several of the flowers on small metal spirals. "For your hair." Fleur said, twisting them into Ginny's curls which had been artfully pinned up. Ginny didn't think she'd ever owned something so beautiful.

The time came for the girls to leave. Ginny and Gabrielle were to follow Fleur to make sure that her skirt didn't catch on anything. When they reached the front Gabrielle, as maid of honour, was to relieve Fleur of her bouquet and Ginny was to make sure that her veil was straightened once she revealed her face. Fleur's father walked her down the top half of the stairs – handing her over to Bill on the middle landing where they continued the descent together. It was beautifully arranged and everyone was smiling, especially Ginny. She felt beautiful and the wonderful decorations were making her feel as though her brother had a fairytale wedding. As she followed Fleur down the aisle made by the split in the rows of chairs she felt a couple of pairs of eyes on her. She caught sight of white-blonde hair at the front and after catching Draco's eye couldn't focus on anything else.

* * *

The ceremony went superbly. Both Fleur and Bill were outstanding at pleasing the crowd so their vows were well spoken and caused a good reaction. However Draco and Harry found it difficult to concentrate. In their eyes Ginny was the one to watch. Her sparkling silver dress fitted her as if it were made with her figure in mind; her hair was slightly curled and pinned in an artful way to frame her face which had a light layer of make-up which accented her eyes and lips. She looked so alive; like she was lit with an inner fire… she was glowing with beauty. The way the sun caught every bead and crystal on her dress and jewellery lighting them up only emphasised her radiance. 

When Fleur and Bill walked back down the aisle, the best man held his arm out for Gabrielle which left Draco to accompany Ginny to the ballroom. He was a little worried after her last conversation with him and it didn't help that she looked so shocked to see him offer his arm.

"Where's Mattie?" She asked, explaining when Draco looked confused –"Bill's mate, the usher?"

"He couldn't make it so Bill asked me, knowing I was the best choice obviously." Draco drawled. "I'm sorry if I'm not up to your standards but you can take it up with your brother later." Draco could barely look her in the eye; little did she know how worried he was that she would reject him and shout at him again.

Ginny blushed remembering how awful she had been to him at their last meeting. As they walked sedately towards the reception area she apologised. "Draco. I'm sorry I left without saying sorry or goodbye. I had no right to speak to you the way I did. It's your choice who you choose to spend your time with but…" she took a big breath – _now or never._ She thought. "The reason I acted so badly was because -"

The MC interrupted her as they walked into the house. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Master Draco Malfoy and Miss Ginevra Molly Weasley." Ginny was appalled at her full name being read but did her best to hide her embarrassment. Before she could resume her conversation, Draco and she were shown to separate tables where they were to sit for the meal. Ginny had been seated with the golden trio; as she had been with Harry when the table plans had been made it was a sensible placement. As Draco was invited fairly late in the day he had been placed with a table of Fleur's young relatives. All of which seemed fairly pleased by their new table mate.

The meal was awful for Ginny. Harry seemed to alternate between whispering with Ron – who looked a little awkward; giving Hermione disapproving looks and telling Ginny how much he had missed her and how wonderful she looked. Ginny made polite small talk. She knew that a few weeks ago she would have been giving Harry the third degree but now all she could think about was a certain blond – the back of whose head was in her line of sight and was being manhandled by several young French girls.

The speeches however were wonderful; Bill had spent weeks learning his speech in French as a gift for Fleur. He recited it twice; once for each family. At one point he said that he must have been slipped Felix Felicis as he was the luckiest man alive to be gifted with someone as amazing as Fleur. Half the girls were swooning at the romance - even Fleur had to dab at her eyes a few times.

Then came the first dance… Fleur and Bill made a wonderful couple floating round the dance floor. Harry was just about to ask Ginny to dance when Draco appeared by her side. "Ginny - Fleur wishes her Maids and Ushers to join her in her first dance. Would you do me the honour?" She nodded and Draco led her to where the best man and Gabrielle had just started a waltz. Draco was an accomplished dancer; he led Ginny perfectly and made her feel as if she had been doing this all her life. The waltz changed into a more modern slow number and Draco held Ginny close, unwilling to let her go. Ginny inhaled deeply as she pressed her face closer to his neck. He smelled amazing – like wonderful spices and his skin was so warm against her face.

As the song finished Ginny felt a hand pulling her away from Draco; she was loath to leave his side but thought it may have been her mother. As she turned she saw Harry looking concerned. "Dance with me Ginny." He said pulling her swiftly away from Draco. Draco looked as though he was going to come after her but one of the young girls that had been at his table was begging him to dance and Fleur was smiling at them and whispering for him to dance with the girl so he couldn't really refuse.

Harry whipped Ginny round a little too fast. "Bet you're glad I rescued you. I wanted to get you away earlier but Hermione said that you were expected to dance with the Ferret and begged me not to cause a scene. I can't believe Molly has fallen for his lies."

Ginny and Draco had kept catching each other's eyes as they span round in the dance but at this statement Ginny looked Harry full in the face. "What? What do you mean mum fell for his lies?"

Harry was a little shocked at her reaction but carried on, thinking she didn't understand what Malfoy was capable of. "Well you know. He's obviously up to something bad. Have you noticed him acting strangely?"

Ginny's nostrils flared in anger, she couldn't believe Harry was still stuck in the past. Draco had done some awful things but he was a different person now. "Harry, the only thing Draco has been 'up to' is saving mine and Ron's lives and helping to make Remus and Tonks' lives easier. And if by 'acting strangely' you mean being kind and thoughtful then yes, he has been. Very much so."

Harry didn't really know what to say. Draco must have been much better at fooling people than he thought; he'd have to tread lightly if he were to make them realise… Once again he looked at Ginny and thought how wonderful she looked. "Can we go for a walk Ginny? I've not seen you for such a long time. It would be nice to talk properly, away from the noise."

Ginny had wanted to have a word with Harry at some point tonight anyway; there was a lot she had to say to him. "Ok Harry." She said quietly. She looked for Draco but he was being introduced to Fleur's family by Bill.

Little did she know that when she walked out of the French windows and into the orchard with Harry, Draco had caught her leaving from the corner of his eye. He felt like his heart was breaking; Harry had been back on the scene for a second and she was back in his arms already. He clenched his fists tightly and tried desperately to pay attention to the people he was being introduced to…

The sun was close to setting as Ginny and Harry walked through the trees. Harry went to put his arm around Ginny but she seemed to suddenly speed up a little, saying something about the beautiful gems in the trees catching the light. Harry only had eyes for the gems sparkling all over her – her hair, neck and all over her dress. He once again thought how alive and alight she looked. "You're so beautiful Ginny." He said. Ginny stopped still and her shoulders seemed to stiffen.

She turned to look at him and although her eyes were gorgeous they seemed a little sad. "Do you love me Harry?" she asked softly. Harry was shocked to say the least. "I… what?" he stuttered.

"I said - do you love me? Not just as Ron's sister but as me. Ginevra Molly Weasley… Red hair, freckles; temper and everything." Ginny was looking deeply into his eyes.

"Of course I do Ginny." Harry said but the stare she was giving him seemed to burn into his heart. He thought hard and deep. "I mean… I want to. We're still young Gin. I think you're fantastic – I want to _learn_ to love you."

It seemed to Harry that Ginny's eyes darkened for a split second. She shook her head slowly and took his hand. "Harry. You mean so much to me. You've been a massive part of my life for so long but this is wrong." Harry went to speak but she pressed a finger to his lips.

"Look into your soul Harry. You want to love me but you can't. Because the right feelings just aren't there. We would have lasted for a long time but neither of us would have been satisfied. I can't be the person you need and neither can you for me. Be honest with yourself for a moment."

Harry tried to reach his hand out to run through her hair, to make her realise she was wrong. Again her eye's flashed dark – almost black. She stopped his hand and said commandingly. "Look Harry."

She put one of her hands on each side of his face. He felt himself sinking deep into his feelings and for the first time since he had kissed Ginny in the Gryffindor common room he realised that something was wrong with their relationship. There wasn't a bond there. It was pleasing and fun, but the feelings he had for Ginny just didn't run deep enough. That was why he'd found it so easy to break it off with her at Dumbledore's funeral.

He pulled away from Ginny's grip and looked sadly into her eyes. There were tears threatening to form there. "Ginny." He started.

"No Harry. It's ok. I just need a moment alone. I'll see you inside." Harry nodded sadly. The both shared a hug and then he made his way back into the house.

Ginny only had a second to herself when she felt a presence behind her. She turned and saw Draco looking angry.

"Your mother said that everyone was making their way to the orchard now for the evening. She wanted me to find you." He went to turn away but Ginny caught his arm.

"Draco. What's wrong?" she asked, concerned that he seemed to be radiating so much anger.

"Nothing that need concern you." He snarled, again attempting to leave. Once more Ginny pulled him back. "I wanted to talk to you Draco. I wanted to thank you for the beautiful jewellery. It's the most thoughtful gift ever."

Draco looked at her; she really did look amazing and as the sun finally set, her crystals caught the reflections of the twinkling lights appearing all around. Ginny gasped at the magnificent change in the clearing. "You did all of this Draco? You never cease to amaze me. Thank you for doing this for my family." She tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek. Ginny noticed that he stiffened at her touch.

"I don't think your boyfriend would be happy with you doing that." He said coldly.

"What?" Ginny asked. Draco pointed back towards the house. "Potter – I saw you together." Ginny smiled sadly.

"Well you don't have to worry about him. We would never have worked." She looked up at Draco and her eyes were soft and welcoming. "I'm too taken with someone else to have kept up the illusion of any relationship Harry and I could have tried to have."

Draco felt his heart beating fast. He had never felt this hopeful in his life. He wanted to ask her who she was so taken with but couldn't bear the thought of having his hopes dashed. Finally he could take it no longer and said in a low voice. "Who Ginny? Who is it?"

Ginny lowered her eyes so all he could see for a few second were long beautiful lashes. "It's you Draco. I know you don't-"

Before she could say anything else Draco had cradled her face in his hands and tilted it upwards to capture her mouth in a breathtaking kiss. They could both hear people chatting loudly and making their way to the clearing but in that moment neither seemed to care; they were too lost in the embrace.


	29. Ginny's surprise

**Thank you all for your reviews… I'm afraid there is another chapter and a bit to go at the wedding still!! More from Harry and a surprise for Ginny although not much romance in this chapter - sorry.**

**I would say I'm probably about two thirds of the way through the story at the moment but every now and then I get a change of heart with certain things so it may be a little longer or shorter than I thought!! **

**Thanks for reading.

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They could both hear people chatting loudly and making their way to the clearing but in that moment neither seemed to care; they were too lost in the embrace.

* * *

Ginny melted into him, oblivious to anything else that was happening. Draco had moved his hands from her chin and was currently pulling her even closer to him as he deepened the kiss.

Ginny had never felt such electricity running through her body. It was Draco that had made her feel and seem so fresh and alive; Draco that had switched on her inner glow and she could understand how. He seemed to be able to instinctively know exactly how to kiss her, how to hold and touch her in a way that was ecstasy.

Far too soon for Ginny's liking, Draco had stopped the kiss and instead was kissing her gently down her neck with feather light touches. "We should go where everyone else is Ginny." He said in a low gruff voice. Ginny was worried – were her kissing skills not good enough? Had she made a fool out of herself?

Draco could tell something was wrong when he looked into her eyes. "Ginny?" He said, once again taking her chin in his hand.

She looked a little embarrassed. "You want to leave already? Did I do the wrong thing?" she said. Draco couldn't help but smile at how vulnerable she looked.

"I don't want to go Ginny but this is your brother's wedding. I really don't think it would be fair to take any of their limelight by shocking everyone with a sudden kissing spree. It is their day. Plus… I'd like to keep this between us for a little while." He could tell that she hadn't understood his meaning the second that the words left his mouth.

"Are you ashamed of me Draco?" Ginny said, a dark blush spreading over her already flushed face.

"No. I just want to take some time for us. I'd like for you and I to have a chance to be with each other for a while before we have to face a barrage of questions from people. I know your friends won't be happy and I'd rather we didn't have a struggle right from the word go."

Ginny looked up at him. "So you want there to be an us?" she asked. "Not just friends? This wasn't just some way of you getting your kicks?"

"No!" Draco exclaimed, running his hand through his hair. "I… I understand why you'd think that. I've never really been too honourable in the past. But… You do something to me and I can't seem to get you out of my head. I'd like to see where things go. I can't promise you anything. I'm not a knight in shining armour."

Ginny smiled. "They're overrated anyway. I'd choose you over Sir Cadogan any day." She laughed.

Draco smiled back. "We'd best go now because in another minute I won't be able to keep my hands off you. I was wrong about the dress…" Ginny frowned self consciously. "Why, do I look silly? I-"

Draco silenced her with a quick kiss, "No, I was just going to say – I didn't follow the dress choosing rules, you do look better than the bride!" Ginny giggled and swatted at his hand.

They walked towards all the noise of the other guests and Ginny introduced Draco to members of the family and they chatted happily for a while before moving around again. Ginny was pleased to find out that Draco spoke quite good French so they were able to make small talk with Fleur's family too.

Harry looked up from his drink and nearly spat it out when he saw Ginny with Draco walking together; before he could say anything Molly walked over to them. "Oh you found her Draco, thank you my dear, we were wondering where you two got to but Aunty Dee said she'd seen you chatting happily! Ginny, you look simply wonderful my darling. Your father and I are so proud of you today."

Arthur walked over; he had been celebrating with Bill and Mr Delacour. "My Mollywobbles!" he said grabbing her hand and kissing it. "Have you been telling our little Ginny how beautiful she looks? Just like you… My baby, nearly all grown up." Molly gave Arthur a nudge and he looked as though he had said something he shouldn't have. Molly told him to go and find them all a glass of champagne. "Ginny deserves a treat." Draco said he would go and help Arthur carry the glasses and left the two ladies with a bow.

Molly gave her daughter a big hug. "Ginny you really do look wonderful. Where did you get this beautiful jewellery?" Ginny blushed and told her that Draco had bought it as a surprise. Little did she know that Harry had been listening to their conversation.

Harry practically ran to where Ron and Hermione were just finishing a slow dance. He grabbed them both and pulled them to a secluded corner." Quick Ron – you have to get Ginny to remove her jewellery… It's an emergency." Ron went to go racing off towards Ginny but Hermione caught his arm. "Don't be so hasty Ronald, Ginny's hardly going to appreciate you speeding towards her and grabbing at her outfit is she. Harry what are you talking about?"

Harry gave an exasperated moan at Hermione. "The jewellery – Draco gave it to her. Don't you remember Katy Bell? It's a curse or something… Maybe that's how he's fooling her. It's charmed with the imperious curse." He shook his head. "I'll get it myself."

Both Ron and Hermione grabbed Harry. Ron's face had gone very red. "Harry, she's been wearing it all day mate. I mean do you not think something would have happened by now?"

Harry looked suspiciously at Hermione. "What have you been saying to Ron?" he asked slowly.

Ron didn't like the way Harry was looking at his now girlfriend. "She's been talking sense to me Harry. Look mate… I hate the stupid Ferret as much as you do but he didn't have to save me or Ginny. He didn't have to make a cure for me – no one else knew how to so he could easily have pretended to be ignorant and let me die… And when he saved Ginny – he used wandless magic Harry. He couldn't have reached her otherwise so again, it would have been easy to make out he tried but couldn't save her."

Harry looked at his two best friends as if they had grown extra heads. "Have all of you gone mad?" He asked. Hermione placed what she hoped was a calming hand on his arm.

"Harry, I honestly think Dra- Malfoy has changed. He's not powerful enough to trick everyone, and Remus, Tonks and several other Order members and Aurors have questioned him. If you are _that_ worried then why don't you go and talk – calmly – to Ginny about it. You know her well enough to know if she is under any curse."

Harry bowed his head and muttered something. "What?" chorused Hermione and Ron.

"I can't. I tried warning her about him when we were dancing earlier and she snapped at me. We went for a walk and... and." He couldn't finish. The idea of not being with Ginny was still fresh in his mind. He knew deep down that she was right but it was a little embarrassing to let his friends know.

Hermione looked sad. "What happened Harry? Did you tell her that you couldn't get back together? I know it's a hard decision for you."

Harry shook his head. "No." His voice got very low and gruff. "We talked and came to… erm a mutual decision that we wouldn't have worked out anyway. So we're just going to have a bit of space and try and be friends." _That wasn't too bad_ Harry thought. _At least I don't look like she rejected me. _

Hermione felt sorry for Harry. She was sure he wasn't telling them something but decided to leave him be. "Harry. I'll go talk to Ginny but only because you're my friend. I think you need to ignore Draco, seeing as you can't be convinced to give him a chance."

Hermione wandered over to where Ginny was talking to her mother. Both gave Hermione kisses and hugs. "You look lovely 'Mione." said Ginny. "Even prettier than the Yule ball!"

Molly spotted Harry and Ron where Hermione had left them and excused herself to go and smother the two boys in motherly cuddles.

Hermione took the opportunity to have a word with Ginny. "Ginny, Harry's worried about you. I think he's overreacting but he has been right before so I wanted to make sure that you're feeling alright."

Ginny smiled at her. "Harry's always worrying. You're right, he has stopped some awful situations in the past by worrying but this time he's wrong. In fact… I don't think I've ever been happier. Although you probably shouldn't word it like that to him. I don't want to seem cruel."

Hermione's brain put the pieces together… "You told Harry it wasn't going to work didn't you?" she asked. When Ginny nodded slowly she continued. "How come Ginny? I thought you wanted him to come after you?"

Ginny shrugged, wondering how to explain the situation to Hermione.

"It's Draco isn't it?" Hermione guessed, which was confirmed when Ginny looked shocked. "You like him? I'd give it a bit of time before you do anything if I were you. I won't say anything but Harry will go mad if he finds out. He already thinks Draco has you wearing cursed necklaces and stuff." Hermione sighed, knowing she was going to be caught in the middle of something huge.

The music stopped suddenly and the MC announced that the new Mr and Mrs Weasley were now leaving for their wedding hotel and could everyone please raise their glasses to the happy couple. Draco came over with a drink for Ginny, Hermione noticed the way their hands brushed against each other's when he passed the glass to her.

Everyone who could, produced a corporeal patronus. The silver creatures surrounded Fleur and Bill in a circle of dancing light before fading delicately away... Ginny explained to Draco it was something that was occasionally done at wizarding weddings. "A patronus is a spell of love and joy. It's meant to be a wish for good luck in their marriage." Draco seemed very interested, not having too much experience on advanced spells which didn't involve dark magic, but he knew that it wasn't the time to ask.

After the cheers had gone up and the happy couple left everyone began partying again. Draco leant close to Ginny and whispered. "I think you should come this way… it would be to your benefit."

He manoeuvred her to the front of the crowd of dancers, where a large buffet and drinks table had been set up and the music was coming from. As soon as Ginny spotted her parents Arthur stood up and cast a Sonorous on himself.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I have one last request for you, now that the happy couple have gone… It's time for another celebration. It has been more or less forgotten this week but I would like you to all raise your glasses for my little Ginny. It was her birthday on Monday and she probably thinks we have all forgotten. How could I forget my baby's sweet sixteenth? Happy birthday my love."

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**Yes ok so I'm a bit sad and actually looked up to see the nearest Saturday to Ginny's birthday in 1997 so it was all accurate… I really do want it all to be real lol!**


	30. Not so different

**Sorry I'm late updating. I've been soooo busy at work and I also found it really hard to write this chapter… I'm still not 100 happy with it but I've decided to post it as it is and hope the next is better. **

**There's not too much Ginny/Draco in this one I'm afraid. There is a fair bit about Harry though which will hopefully make up for it. (I just can't make Harry a bad guy so I have to do something nice for him...)**

**Anyway, next chapter they should be heading back to the house and you might get a bit of D/G romping (unless I chicken out and smooth over it with fluffiness!)

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"How could I forget my baby's sweet sixteenth? Happy birthday my love."

* * *

Ginny couldn't believe it… She'd forgotten her own birthday - her sixteenth as well! Although the wizarding world tended to celebrate 17th birthdays as a coming of age, many also made a big thing about their 16th - especially those with mixed parents or, as with Ginny's family, an obsession with muggle ways.

Her close family that were still there all came and gave her big cuddles which she received thankfully - and slightly warily from George and Fred… She felt it was better safe than sorry where those two were concerned, especially as they had been so well behaved for the wedding...

Then she was presented with an absolutely huge birthday cake with sixteen candles and lots of presents. Ginny got plenty of dragon themed gifts including a tiny dragon's tooth earring from Charlie who whispered in her ear while giving her a kiss on the cheek… "Bill says he and Fleur are going to get the top of your ear pierced as their present as they know you want it done… but they figured they'd wait until they could sneak you away from mum!"

Fred and George had bought her a beautiful dragon sculpture, they laughed when it shot flames out and scared everyone but as it turned out the fire was completely harmless. Her mother and father had saved up and they gave her a broomstick all of her own, some new clothes and quite a few rare ingredients for her medical potions.

Ginny smiled when she got to Hermione, Ron and Harry's gift; it was bound to be something useful rather than pretty. When she opened the first present she was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful wooden jewellery box, the top of which was engraved with a picture of two dragons swooping gracefully through the sky, almost as if they were dancing together. All the rest of her gifts from the three were books on all the subjects she was supposed to be studying that year at school; Hermione kept saying that she should keep up with her studies even if Hogwarts didn't re-open.

"They're all perfect!" Ginny gushed. "Thank you all so much – this is the best birthday yet. I'm so glad that I get to celebrate with everyone I care about." Nobody mentioned the fact that Percy had still not regained contact with the family; it was too painful for Molly to think about and brought too much anger for everyone else.

The cake was cut and handed out to the many people still left partying, celebrations like this tended to go on until the early hours of the morning. Draco pulled Ginny to the side for a moment. "Ginny, I'm really sorry but I didn't know it was your birthday until an hour or so ago. I haven't got a gift for you."

Draco looked so disappointed that Ginny wanted to kiss him but she knew it wasn't a good idea. "Draco, you've already given me so much – you took me on a whole shopping spree! Plus look at this gorgeous jewellery. Don't be silly."

Draco shook his head. "I want to give you something special for your birthday… It's not as if there are any shops around though so I guess I will have to improvise… Lend me your wand and turn around."

Ginny looked dubiously at him but did as she was asked. Draco concentrated hard and with a quick swish of Ginny's wand an enormous iridescent pair of wings sprouted from the back of her dress. Ginny laughed with glee when she turned her head and saw them. "You've made me fairy wings! What a shame Fleur missed it!"

"If you want to wear the dress another time they will come off." Draco told her but she wasn't listening. Ginny was twirling around watching the way the light caught the wings and grinning to herself. Draco wanted so badly to hold her and kiss her senseless but he could tell from the looks he'd been getting from Potter it would cause more trouble than it was worth.

He decided that for now he would just take great satisfaction in the fact that he'd beaten scar-head to the girl – Draco smirked and raised his glass at Harry who scowled and then turned his back to them and stomped off.

* * *

Harry was sulking... He knew it was childish and he was meant to be grown up now that he had turned 17, but it felt good. No one was listening to him about Malfoy, and Ginny had even gone so far as to let the evil git use her wand. Harry shuddered to think of the damage that could have been caused. Maybe Malfoy knew there were too many people here for him to risk doing something bad…

Hermione had told him to drop it and Ron said, slightly fearfully, that Ginny would go nuts if Harry ruined her birthday. So Harry had slunk off into a quiet corner and was gradually getting a little drunk. It wasn't a great idea as he had decided to be constantly vigilant in case of Death Eater attacks but he supposed they were protected by quite a few hefty wards at the moment and over half the order were here celebrating with them. In fact he thought he could see Mad-Eye Moody sitting with someone.

Deciding he'd had enough of being on his own he pushed off from the tree he'd been leaning against and made his way over to Mad-Eye; figuring at least there was someone who was more untrusting and doubtful of others than he was…

When he got a little closer he was taken aback by who he saw. Harry was tempted to take his glasses off and clean them but no, he was seeing correctly.

"Harry!" bellowed Alistor, slapping the empty seat to his right meaning for Harry to join him.

Harry stood stock still for a moment before finding his voice. "What is this? A bloody Slytherin reunion party?" He still couldn't quite get his head round the fact that sitting on Alistor's left was none other than Pansy Parkinson.

"Well someone had to add a bit of class to the occasion." Pansy smirked; quite annoyed with that she hadn't been able to come up with anything wittier. Obviously being cooped up with the absolutely paranoid psychopath that was Moody had affected her judgement. That or the fact that Harry looked absolutely stunning and she'd been without any eye-candy, as she called it, for quite some time now. While Moody was a definite improvement on Voldemort's hideous visage he was still no oil painting.

She let her eyes wander over Harry for a moment, he'd obviously been working out since she'd seen him at school but what was she found interesting was a certain hardness he'd developed in his eyes. He didn't look like the happy go lucky 'boy wonder' anymore; he looked like a man who meant business.

Moody interrupted her thoughts. "Harry, could you watch this one for a moment or two? There's something I have to take care of and I daren't leave her alone." Harry looked a little annoyed at having to play babysitter but nodded once. Alistor clapped him heartily on the back. "Watch her carefully though. I've got a couple of spells on her so she can't escape but she's a handful."

He hobbled off towards a group of Order members leaving Harry no other choice but to sit next to Pansy. He took a big swig from his drink and noticed Pansy looking at him expectantly. He gave her an annoyed look but it just caused her to smirk at him.

"What?" Harry snapped at her. "Why are you staring at me?"

Pansy smiled again. "Partly as I have nothing better to do but I mainly I think messing with your head might be fun…" Pansy had often found the best way to confuse a man was to be honest about things like that.

Harry looked a little startled. "What do you mean messing? What are you going to do? Stop it!" Pansy threw her head back and laughed; Harry caught himself staring at her lithe neck and stopped himself from looking any lower. He felt a little nervous so he took another swig from his drink.

"What's in there then?" Pansy asked reaching over and plucking the cup from Harry's hand before he had the chance to react. She took a sniff of the cup. "Firewhisky eh? So you're drinking with the big boys now then…" Pansy tipped the cup back and drained it. Harry's eyes nearly popped out of his head… He'd been nursing the same cup for about 20 minutes because it was so strong, and she'd just finished it as if it were pumpkin juice.

The dark haired witch let out a satisfied sigh and smiled. "Do close your mouth Potter. It's not very attractive you know - it quite ruins your current brooding good looks." Harry just realised that she had said he was good looking before she carried on.

"I've always been able to take my drink, probably comes from having a drunken mother who used to get a little confused and give me her gin instead of my juice. Why don't you accompany me to get a little more? Although I suggest you stick to butterbeer."

Pansy had stood up and was walking towards the refreshments table before Harry could even blink. He hurriedly followed her, he wasn't going to let her out of his sight or Moody would kill him! When he caught up with her she was already holding a very large firewhisky. Not to be outdone Harry also got one for himself although he was already feeling a little light headed. While Pansy drank her spirit very quickly Harry continued to sip his muttering something about savouring the taste.

After a couple more drinks and many comments about his poor drinking ability from Pansy, Harry was getting seriously annoyed. "Why do you Slytherins have to be such pains in the arses all the time? You're so aggravating. I wish you would just bugger off and leave us in peace."

"You sound like the Dark Lord." Pansy stated matter-of-factly.

"What?" Harry said, completely dumbfounded.

Pansy smirked. "Well, he's a lot more eloquent than you obviously but it's the same general theme..." She put on a dry menacing voice… "_Why are these blood traitors and Muggle lovers such a thorn in my side? They are an irksome problem I am burdened with. How I wish I could just be rid of them_... So on and so forth. You're not so different from him, you just hate different people."

"But I'm good and he's bad." Harry protested.

Pansy looked at him as if he were a child. "So you're a definite black and white guy then… No room for shades of grey? While I will agree The Dark Lord is 'bad', 'evil' whatever you want to say - I probably wouldn't say you were a goody two shoes type of guy. I mean you're the one who sent Malfoy to the hospital wing with bloody gashes all over his body aren't you? You nearly killed him."

"It didn't know that would happen... Anyway, he nearly killed Ron and Katie - he deserved it." Harry protested hotly.

Pansy let out a noise of disbelief. "Oh, so violence is ok when you decide to use it but bad when it's anyone else. Why do you have such a problem with Malfoy anyway? Over any other Slytherin I mean."

It was Harry's turn to look as though his companion was being infantile. "Because he's him. He's prejudiced and mean and goes out of his way to make my life hell. He's Malfoy I don't think I need to say more than that."

"Actually Potter I happen to know that he tried to befriend you twice and the second time you threw it back in his face to stick with your little friend 'Ronniekins'. Who by the way belittled Draco's name even before Draco had spoken a word to him. Draco does have his faults, one of which is pride, so I'm not surprised he didn't like you after that. I don't see how you can act all high and mighty when you and your friends treated him exactly the same way that he acted towards you. You are all too prejudiced against our house to see anything but badness there. Why do you think we act mean when that name is constantly thrust upon us? Sometimes it's easier to just be what everyone expects from you, especially your parents - the people you looked up to as a child and thought could do no wrong."

Harry tried to deny everything she was saying but found himself looking at his first few encounters with Draco in a different light. Ok, Malfoy had been a conceited little prick in their first meeting at Madam Malkin's but he had spoken to Harry without even questioning who he was and had seemed to be attempting to be friendly.

Pansy stood there with an annoyingly superior look on her face. "So, what were you saying about us Slytherins?"

Harry blinked a few times and attempted to say something in his defence. Lots of things went through his head but they all seemed a little shallow after her outburst. Finally, although he couldn't believe he was doing it, Harry held out his hand. "Can we start over? I'm Harry Potter."

* * *

**Eep, ok so there may be a **_**tiny**_** bit more in this setting... but not much... I hope you don't mind!**


	31. A Weasley history

**Sorry I haven't updated for ages. I've been a bit ill so haven't had a chance to get to the computer… Another chapter that I'm not too happy with, but I'm blaming that on having slightly messed up brains at the moment! Hopefully I can get back to some better writing soon.**

**Thanks for any reviews, sorry if I didn't reply… I think I did for most but got a bit confused towards the end of the weekend! **

* * *

Harry held out his hand. "Can we start over? I'm Harry Potter."

* * *

Ginny laughed as she spun round the dance floor. Draco was quite the dancer. It seemed he had many hidden talents; if Ginny didn't want to kiss him so much she would probably have been sickeningly jealous of his abilities. 

"Stop, stop!" She gasped as Draco twirled her round yet again. "I need to get a drink, I'm parched."

They walked towards the drinks table chatting about how they had each learned to dance. Ginny stopped suddenly; shocked at the sight she saw before her. Two black haired figures were sitting on the floor surrounded with glasses and bottles giggling and throwing bits of grass and flowers at each other.

"Harry?" - "Pansy?" questioned Ginny and Draco simultaneously.

"Gin!" Harry cried jovially, attempting to raise a glass to her and falling on his back.

Pansy tried to pull him up but just managed to fall over herself. "No gin…" She muttered. "I'll stick to the firewhisky - gin reminds me too much of my mother…" She looked at Harry and they both burst into another fit of laughter.

Draco grabbed a bottle of wine and pulled a gawping Ginny away from the drunken couple. "Looks like they're in for a fun night." Draco muttered. He walked Ginny to a pair of stone benches slightly covered by the branches of a large willow tree; it was as close as he could get to hiding them away from the few stragglers still partying.

"What do you mean by that?" Ginny asked a little forcefully.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked. "Isn't it good that he's not still pining over you? It certainly puts my mind at rest that Pansy's set her sights on him. Means he won't try anything on and I won't have to break his nose again."

Ginny frowned a little at his brutal talk, he grinned slightly and muttered _joke_ quietly. "What makes you think she wants him?" Ginny asked.

"I can just tell." Draco stated. "I can see it in her eyes. She hardly ever gets drunk, so either she feels comfortable enough with him to let go of her inhibitions or else… she's pretending to get drunk so his guard is down and she can have her wicked way with him."

Ginny looked shocked. "Wicked way? She can't do that he's a Vir…" Ginny pressed her lips tightly together and looked away wishing she hadn't had the last drink which had obviously loosened her tongue.

Draco chuckled. "I see… So little Potter is an innocent. How sweet. Pansy will love that."

Ginny whacked him with one of her wings. "Don't be so horrible. Your first time should be beautiful and memorable. A special occasion, not a drunken grope that you won't even remember in the morning."

Draco looked around quickly to make sure no one was looking and then pulled her in for a passionate kiss. He left her breathless and gasping for more. "I take it from that little speech that you haven't…?" He left the sentence open.

Ginny blushed but didn't shy away from the question. "Of course not. I've literally just turned 16. Do you think I'm easy?"

Draco pulled her towards him and stroked her face gently. "No, quite the opposite. One of the reasons you're so special. I bet half the girls in school didn't think twice about waiting. They were all too busy trying to be popular and keep up with the other girls. You aren't an air-brained, open-legged bimbo like they are." Ginny bit her tongue and managed not to make a nasty remark about the fact that most of the girls trying to be popular were doing so to get into his bed. It made her very self conscious though; she started getting a bit concerned about what he was expecting from her and what she was willing to give.

It wasn't as if she was completely clueless. She'd had a few boyfriends in the last few years at school and things had gotten a little out of hand a couple of times. But she'd always stopped things when they had reached a certain point - which was in fact the reason for one of her break-ups. For once Draco couldn't seem to sense her nervousness, possibly because he was happy with the way things were going at the moment. He had spent a good while thinking that she just wanted to be friends so now that it had turned into more he was happy to just see how things went. After all he'd been through in the last year or so, having someone that he could trust and talk to seemed a minor miracle in itself.

Eventually the evening came to an end and Arthur and Molly's arms were aching from shaking so many hands. Ron and Hermione had spent a little time looking for Harry but decided he must have gone home early. Draco _accidentally_ forgot to tell them what he had seen earlier and Ginny had already fallen asleep exhausted, so no mention was made of Pansy.

* * *

Once home Arthur left Molly to get Ginny into bed and asked Draco to have a quick chat with him down stairs. Draco assumed that Arthur had noticed his closeness to Ginny and wanted to give him a fatherly warning. However Arthur had other things on his mind.

"Draco, I know you were there when Ginny let loose what seems to be a novel form of magic. I wanted to have a word with you in the hopes that you can help me out…

Once in every seven generations a female Weasley has been born. As I was one of three brothers we knew one of us was very likely to have a daughter; it turned out to be me... Now every female Weasley so far has been blessed, or cursed some may say, with an unusual power. Franny, our last female ancestor was one of the most powerful seers to have lived and left behind some very mysterious prophesies. Every time she touched someone she would have visions of their deaths flash through her mind so towards the end she just avoided contact with anyone. It was a sad tale really." Arthur paused pensively. Draco stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

"Before her there was Madelyn Weasley who would go into another kind of trance - she could control her mind so it would float free from her body and she could see and hear things that were going on elsewhere without being detected. Kind of like having a fool proof invisibility cloak really. Nothing bad happened to her though; she was a spy in the Southern Wars and was quite highly thought of amongst her peers… It goes back like that throughout history. Some of the women were more powerful than others but all of them were exceptional witches."

Arthur suddenly shifted his position, leaning forward and staring deeply at Draco.

"Ginny is the first female Weasley in history to be a seventh child. You may well know that the number seven holds much significance in the wizarding world and we think this is no exception. Ginny may have an extraordinary power, one that she may not even be able to control. I'm not sure if Ginny told you, but Albus was aware of her type of gift. He mentioned being blessed with it to a much smaller extent himself. But he never went into details with any of us. He always maintained that Ginny should be the first to find out what she was capable of and he would help her control it. Then it would be up to her to disclose any information to us."

Draco decided to ask the question that had been playing on his mind. "Sorry to sound rude, but what does this have to do with me? Why aren't you explaining all this to Ginny?"

Arthur smiled. "I think she knows already what our family history is like... The reason I'm talking to you is that Molly and I are going to have to leave her for a while. Mad-Eye has brought some information to the Order's attention and we have to take action.

I want to know that you will look after my Ginny. I can tell you two trust each other and you have certainly proved yourself to be a sensible, intelligent and powerful wizard. I am however worried about what may happen if her powers start to become more apparent. If things had gone to plan then this time next month she would have been starting extra lessons with Dumbledore and if necessary would know how to control herself. Now we are at a loss to know what to do. Minerva is looking through all of Albus's books and parchments to see if she can find anything but there is so much that it may well take months of searching and she is needed for Order business…"

Arthur stood up, walked to a cupboard and pulled out a large pile of books. "We are bringing a lot of Dumbledore's belongings here. I want you and Ginny to read through as much as you can to see if you can find anything useful. I know it's not the most exciting job in the world."

Just then Molly walked in. "Arthur let the boy get some sleep - it's late. Go on Draco, we won't be leaving until we've said good-bye to Ginny tomorrow so if anything else needs to be said we can talk about it then."

Draco walked to bed slowly, running things through his mind. So he and Ginny were being asked to read through a huge amount of possibly useless literature; that sounded dull. On the other hand they would be alone in the house and he could think of a lot more exciting things to do with their time…


	32. Pancake kisses

**I'm sorry it's late and it's not particularly long. Things have been so manic this last week and I'm struggling to fit writing time in with Wedding and honeymoon stuff. Never mind the fact that we're one person down at work so I can't sneak any writing into my breaks! **

**I will try my best to get a couple of longer and better chapters out soon (I didn't mind this one but not sure how good I am at mild smut!) **

**I've a couple of things which should happen in a few chapters so I'm going to try my best to get them out before I go away. **

**Thanks as always for the lovely reviews.**

* * *

On the other hand they would be alone in the house and he could think of a lot more exciting things to do with their time…

* * *

Ginny woke up the next morning feeling bright and cheery, something Ron had always moaned at her about in the burrow. He told her she was too cheerful and sickeningly upbeat when she woke up. Generally Ron took at least half an hour and most of his breakfast before he was even half awake. 

She stretched and heard a knock at her door. "Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me." Replied her mum. "Can I come in?"

Ginny jumped off her bed and opened the door with a big grin. "Thanks for my birthday mum. It was such a cool idea. I can't believe I'd forgotten – I'm such an idiot sometimes." She noticed that her mum didn't look so happy.

"Mum, what's up?"

Molly took her hands and sat on the bed with her. "Your dad and I have to go away for a while on Order business. Most of us have roles to play and they will be dangerous ones. Before you start – no you can't come. I'm sorry love but it is for us adults only. I'm sure we will all be fine but we have to act on this information."

Ginny sat there looking shocked at how calm her mother seemed.

"Your dad has spoken to Draco and you two will have some very important work to do too."

Ginny brightened noticeably at this; she hated being left out the whole time. Hadn't she faced Death Eaters before in the ministry? If Dumbledore was still here he would understand. "What are we going to do mum?"

"We want you to search through all of Dumbledore's paperwork and books to see if you can find anything useful, for our cause and to help with whatever powers you may have."

Ginny groaned. "That's not important… That's just fobbing us off with some boring job no one but Hermione would want to do."

"Ginny!" Molly scolded. "Academic help is just as important as physical help. I've told you about taking that kind of attitude." Ginny grumbled but conceded; she knew how hard it was to argue with her mother once her mind was made up.

Ginny and Draco said their goodbyes to her parents and also to Remus and Tonks who had arrived to get some of their belongings and had been chatting to Draco while Molly had her talk with Ginny. Once they had gone Ginny felt quite sad and it seemed to her as if the house had grown enormously without her friends and family there.

Draco could sense her sadness and suggested they make some breakfast together. Ginny raised her eyebrows at the thought of him cooking but decided to go along as it took her mind off everything else. She decided that she wanted to go American and have pancakes for breakfast so she started to make a batter. Draco offered to help so Ginny told him he could mix the ingredients together. Unfortunately as Draco was very inexperienced at cooking he ended up getting flour all down himself and wasn't very impressed with Ginny's giggles.

"I don't know what you think is so funny." He replied haughtily. "I do my best to help you cook to cheer you up and you're mocking me."

Ginny laughed harder "You look ridiculous." She squealed.

Draco picked up the flour container from the side and dumped it over her head. She stood still in shock for a moment and glared at him. "Do you realise how long this will take to get out of my hair? That's it – you're in so much trouble."

She turned her back and Draco thought she was sulking until she turned back with an egg in her hand and threw it at him, hard.

Draco almost smirked when his seekers instincts helped him catch the egg, until he realised that he was now holding a sticky mess in his hand. Ginny's eyes widened as he approached her with his hand outstretched.

"Not my hair." She wailed, running as fast as she could to the door. Ginny was too slow and got a big gloopy mess all down the small of her back. She spun around, showering the walls with egg and flour as her hair flew around her.

"You… you-" unable to think of a decent word to fit her mood Ginny instead pulled out her wand ready to throw a hex, but Draco was too quick for her. He grabbed her wand hand and pulled it behind him so she couldn't aim at him. When she flailed her other hand wildly, he grabbed that one and pulled it behind him too, meaning that he had pulled Ginny very close against him.

"Now, you know I don't have a wand - hexing an unarmed man isn't very Gryffindor of you now is it?" Draco smirked.

Before Ginny had a chance to reply he had bent his head and kissed her passionately, teasing her mouth open with his tongue. Ginny soon forgot her anger and instead became flushed with lust; Draco was so intense with his kisses she simply melted into his arms.

Draco deepened the kiss, wanting to explore her mouth completely; she tasted like fresh summer fruits and he couldn't get enough of her. Ginny finally pulled away gasping for air and feeling slightly dizzy. Draco smiled at her flushed face and full, just kissed lips. He stroked his hand across cheek and traced the line of her jaw. When he ran his fingers lightly down her neck and shoulder blade Ginny shivered with pleasure and looked up at him, her bright chocolate eyes shining with joy.

Again Draco pulled her close and claimed her mouth; Ginny clung to him for support and Draco manoeuvred them backwards until Ginny was leaning against one of the counters.

Draco put his thumb under her chin and gently tilted her head to expose her neck; he blew away the flour left there and then kissed and nibbled the sensitive spot just below her ear causing a low moan to escape from her lips. When he heard that soft noise Draco couldn't help but press himself against her, he could feel the effect she was having on him and was trying hard to control himself.

Ginny sucked in a breath as he pressed her against the counter with his body and she felt him grow harder. She could feel a tingling and warmth blossoming between her legs as she started to kiss his neck in the way he had done to her. Draco let out a moan of his own, grabbed her hips and pulled her hard against him. "Gods Ginny." He growled in her ear.

Ginny nibbled his earlobe and murmured, "Looks like I don't need my wand to cast an engorgio on you…"

Draco pulled his head back to look at her, smirking at the thought of such a sweet looking girl saying something so naughty. "I'm sure there's a more pleasurable way to create the effects of a redicuio without a wand too."

He reached around her waist with the intention of lifting her higher on his body but unfortunately he put his hand directly into the gooey eggy mess he had caused earlier. "Yuk." He said pulling his hand back quickly and looking annoyed. Draco looked round for something to wipe his hand on but Ginny, now freed from his embrace, pulled her wand hand back and cast a scourgify over the both of them. She also cleaned the walls and floor which seemed to have suffered just as much as she had.

She took a step back and waited for her heart to slow down. "I think I'll make breakfast on my own today. I'll start you off with something easier at lunch time." Ginny grinned grabbing the ingredients and starting again. She was slightly relieved for the distraction, she wasn't sure exactly what sort of a relationship she had with Draco, or how far she wanted things to go with him. What Ginny was fairly sure about was that she would have a great deal of difficulty stopping Draco or herself if she was in that sort of situation too many times. Merlin could that boy kiss!


	33. Dumbledore's belongings

**My problem with these chapters is that I'm having difficulty with Draco as I don't feel he should suddenly switch to being really nice. I'm better at writing the tension than the actual lovey-dovey bits lol!

* * *

**

What Ginny was fairly sure about was that she would have a great deal of difficulty stopping Draco or herself if she was in that sort of situation too many times. Merlin could that boy kiss!

Ginny served up the pancakes and Draco started on them ravenously only pausing when she sat down on the opposite side of the large table. He put his cutlery down carefully, dabbed his lips on his napkin and only once he had done this asked, "How come you're all the way over there? Afraid I might bite?" he smirked.

Ginny felt a little awkward. "I… I didn't want you to get me in another mess. I'm still going to have to wash my hair again as it is. Scourgify just doesn't make it smell clean." She spooned in a big mouthful of her pancakes with syrup and tried to pretend that was all that was worrying her.

"Don't lie to me." Draco said looking straight at her. "I'm not stupid. You're worried about something." He looked sternly at her.

"Don't be silly." Ginny said unable to look him in the eye. Draco stood up from his chair, walked round the table to her and tilted her head so she had no choice but to look at him.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to force it out of you?" He asked very clearly. When Ginny gasped he realised she thought he meant literally force her.

Draco dropped his hand away from her face. "Merlin, Ginny. I'm not going to hurt you, you idiot; and the fact that you think I would really pisses me off. If you want to know - Your mind is like an open book, if I want to jump in and find out what's going on it won't be too hard, even if I'm not so great at leglimency."

Ginny blushed wondering if he'd been looking at her thoughts while they were kissing earlier.

As if he had read her mind Draco said "And no, I don't go about making a habit of peering into your thoughts. It's difficult; I have to concentrate quite hard as I'm not very skilled, yet… And anyway, I don't really feel that it's right to invade someone's privacy unless it's vitally important."

"What do you mean you're not very skilled…_yet_?" Ginny asked.

"You answer my question first then I'll tell you." He sneered, returning to his rapidly cooling breakfast and leaving Ginny grasping for explanations…

"And I want the truth or don't bother at all." Draco snapped without looking up from his food.

Ginny sighed and then took a deep breath. "I'm worried that things will go too far with us and I don't think I'm ready." She shot the words out as quickly as she could in the hopes it was less embarrassing. Ginny gave Draco a death glare when he started laughing.

"That's right, go ahead and laugh at me when I've bared my fears to you. I'm sorry I'm not as _easy_ as your previous girlfriends – if that's even what I am." Ginny went to leave the table but Draco grabbed her quickly and pulled her down onto his lap.

"You really are being incredibly stupid today. Any more behaviour like this and I'll send you to St. Mungo's… If you are uncomfortable with something then you'll have to tell me. I'm not going to peer into your thoughts all day just so I can be a better, whatever – boyfriend if you want to put titles on this." Ginny wriggled in his lap but he held her firm.

"Please Ginny, writhing about isn't making this any easier on me. I'm a teenage boy; of course I'm going to want to do certain things with you. I mean you're not _that_ bad looking." He smirked when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Ok you're gorgeous, why would I not want to? But I'm happy to go at whatever speed you're comfortable with. I'm not saying I'll like it but there are always cold showers and at worst I have a hand you know."

Ginny blushed until her face was almost the colour of her hair. "Draco!" she exclaimed.

Draco threw his head back and laughed. "You're the one that keeps saying you've had 20 odd brothers. You should be used to it."

"Six." Ginny muttered, still blushing. "So… you're not mad at me?" she asked.

"Don't be such a bloody wimp Ginny. You'd know if I were mad at you. The only thing I'm pissed about is that you think so badly of me still. You'll need to work on that." He pushed her abruptly upwards. "Come on then you temptress. Let's go look through some of this junk your parent's have dumped on us."

Ginny stood a little unsure about things but feeling happier that Draco wasn't just after her for sex. "Merlin, do we have to? It's going to be so dull." She whined, knowing she sounded like a little kid.

Draco shook his head at her. "And people say _I_ was a spoilt child." He muttered. "It will be something to distract me. Don't you enjoy reading?"

Ginny shook her head. "Not really, I like fiction but anything factual kind of bores me. I'm afraid Hermione would have been perfect for this job."

Draco grinned. "I'm sure the old crackpot's memoirs will be more like a good fiction book anyway from the amount of stuff he got up to."

Ginny sighed. "Fine but if I fall asleep you have to get the coffee." She spelled the plates into the sink where the scrubbing brush started to clean them and trudged her way to the door, Draco's sneaky slap on the arse got her moving a bit quicker and put a smile on her face at least.

* * *

Ginny sighed for the fourth time in as many minutes. Draco took no notice of her frustration as he was thoroughly engrossed in a very old looking dragon hide-bound book.

They had decided to take all the boxes of Dumbledore's manuscripts, books and other belongings to the room Draco had dubbed the library as he thought they might need to look up some of the things Dumbledore had written about. Ginny noticed that the room looked a lot tidier since she had been away healing with Madam Pomfrey. Apparently Draco had thought it a little messy and disorderly so throughout the course of the week he had sorted all the books into sections.

When Ginny had seen all of Dumbledore's life long belongings piled into the room like that she had felt immensely sad. His whole life and this was what was left… Other than memories she and others had of him of course. Draco had squeezed her hand gently and begun looking respectfully and carefully through the first box. Ginny had eventually started to help him.

Now however, after having been trying to read for over an hour she was feeling quite bored. "What have you got that's so interesting?" she asked Draco; poking him when he didn't respond.

"Hmm?" said Draco, only just tearing his glance from the page he was so absorbed with.

"I said-" Ginny articulated every word carefully. "What's so interesting?"

"Oh!" Draco seemed to awaken fully at her question and became quite animated. "It's quite fascinating really, I've found what must be a really old diary - it's written just before Dumbledore defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald. He's been talking about all the lives that were being wasted. Dumbledore has mentioned the muggles going to war too – I really want to check it out in more depth but I don't want to stop reading this in case Dumbledore explains more himself. What have you found?"

Ginny grumbled. "Some boring documents about when Dumbledore was on Jury duty. There are really the most tedious of cases, all about people who have broken really small laws, like messing with muggle objects and doing magic in front of muggles. I can't see that there's any point to them." She sighed again and flopped backwards in her seat.

Draco looked torn for a moment but said slowly. "You can swap with me if you want?"

Ginny smiled, she knew he desperately wanted to keep reading where he'd left off. "Sorry Draco – I don't do diaries… I'll just leave these for when you've finished that and look for something more interesting."

Draco nodded and immediately went back to poring over the book. Ginny got up and rummaged through some of the boxes, if Draco had been watching he would have noticed that she avoided anything bound, all the things she picked up to look at were sheets of paper or parchment. Ginny knew she was being a little silly as she doubted Dumbledore would have left anything dangerous just lying around but she wasn't taking any chances.

One of the biggest boxes at the back wasn't full of documents or books at all; it had lots of curious trinkets and other objects in there. The space inside the box was rather like the travelling trunks Draco had bought from Madam Malkin's; whenever Ginny took an item out of the box it slowly grew until it was full size. She was quite surprised when one object, which she had thought looked rather like a small bird bath, had grown until it was very large indeed. There was a strange substance filling the bowl and Ginny couldn't quite make her mind up what it was; she could see that it wasn't quite water but almost seemed like a heavy smoke.

Her father had taken her to see a muggle party once and they had some special type of ice in a bowl which smoked – it remind her a little of that. She remembered at the party she'd wanted to run her hands through the smoke but her Father hadn't let her get too close as none of the muggles were touching it and the two of them were meant to be inconspicuous. Now however she obviously didn't have to worry about giving herself away as a witch so she thought she would feel the swirling thick smoke run through her fingers.

Just as her fingers dipped into the edge of the bowl Draco looked up. "Ginny, wait!" he cried. But it was too late, her body went stiff and her eyes glazed over.

* * *

**I'm hoping from my brief description you all guessed that the pensieve was the object that I was on about! **

**Ok, I'm not actually sure if your whole body gets sucked into the pensieve or just your mind but I've always thought that if that was the case then no-one would know you were there and you might get stuck… So I wrote it from the perspective that your mind is in there but your body is left behind. **

**If you feel that you should be bodily pulled in there then just pretend that's what I wrote lol! **

**Oh, and I know Ginny didn't get the answer to her question about Draco's leglimency abilities. She's forgotten but I haven't!!**


	34. Grindelwald's demise

**I wanted to thank the people who reminded me that Snape caught Harry in the pensieve so obviously it's just your mind that goes in there! I only read the last two books once each so some of the details seem to have slipped my mind! Sorry.**

**Thanks for any reviews that I didn't reply to... I've been so busy but I do appreciate them all!**

* * *

Just as her fingers dipped into the edge of the bowl Draco looked up. "Ginny, wait!" he cried. But it was too late, her body went stiff and her eyes glazed over.

* * *

Ginny felt her inner self being sucked downwards and seemingly far away from her body. She had felt this same feeling before, several years ago now. If this was the same thing as then, it meant she was being taken into someone's memory. 

Once she had found her footing she shivered, partly with cold but mainly with fear. Her previous experiences like this hadn't turned out so well. She looked around and could see that she was in the countryside somewhere; there was an awful lot of mud which seemed to have been dug out of the long trenches in the ground, nearby was a vast dark forest.

She could hear several loud bangs and pops coming from close by. Ginny decided that there was no point staying where she was, as far as she was aware you couldn't come to any harm in a memory… It was just being possessed and trying to kill your friends afterwards that seemed to be the main problem Ginny had last time.

As she turned a corner, the moonlight - for night time it was - came peeking out from behind the clouds. Ginny thought she could see two figures facing each other underneath an old burnt tree. She made her way a little closer and let out a small gasp when she realised one of the figures was Dumbledore, a very young Dumbledore at that. He looked in the prime of his life; his long hair was still auburn and full, and he seemed radiant; his cloak was flowing over his shoulders in the breeze and he looked so magnificent that he seemed to almost glow with life.

Looking at him so young and healthy, Ginny was reminded of the pictures of her uncles that her mother had hidden away under her bed. With all the pure blood families so interbred in the past, Ginny realised it was quite likely that she may somehow be related to Albus Dumbledore - the thought made her feel warm inside. Since her time in the chamber he had become almost like a grandfather to her.

She edged a little closer and heard Dumbledore give out a melodious laugh. He started speaking to the other person, who Ginny noticed didn't look at all like a nice person. This rather evil looking wizard had drawn his wand and had tried to hex Dumbledore, which was the reason for Dumbledore's chuckle.

_"Come now Grindelwald… You know this is over. The muggles have won their war, your pawn Hitler has fallen and you have no followers left to back you. Give up now and I will do my best to help you._"

The dark robed wizard pulled back his hood to reveal a half crazed face. His hair had possibly once been a rich black but was now streaked with dirty grey strands. His skin was waxen and scarred and as he sneered at Dumbledore, Ginny could see he was missing most of his teeth.

Ginny was so intently staring at the duelling wizards that she failed to notice someone walking up behind her.

"Ginny?"

She spun round quickly, her heart pounding. "Draco…" she relaxed a little. "How did you get here?"

Draco shrugged and explained. "You went really stiff and you sort of bent right over so your face was in the stuff in the bowl. I tried to pull you out but I guess I must have got my hands in it too because all of a sudden I was being pulled downwards."

He paused and took a better look around him, when he realised it was Dumbledore in front of him his usually calm face showed a slight trace of shock. "What is this?" He asked. "It's not real; I can feel that much… Can they see us?" he indicated to the two wizards who were still throwing spells at each other.

Ginny shook her head. "You remember when I told you about Riddle showing me things in his diary? Well this is just what it was like. I'm guessing we just wait until the end of the memory and we can go back… I hope so anyway."

They both watched as Dumbledore sent a rope of fire from the tip of his wand, which enveloped Grindelwald and got tighter and tighter until he was able to move. Ginny knew Dumbledore had tried the same thing on Voldemort to little affect. This time however the rope held firm, Ginny wondered if Dumbledore - being young and fit - was stronger; or if Grindelwald was weaker than Voldemort or maybe Voldemort was simply more aware of Dumbledore's fighting technique..

The dark wizard hissed loudly, desperately writhing and trying to escape his bonds."_You know nothing you fool_." He spat at Dumbledore. "_Go ahead and kill me if you think you're capable._"

Dumbledore shook his head sadly and became solemn. "_I know of your ploys Grindelwald. You tricked me once before and I lost my parents because of it… I'm older now and wiser. Not a frightened teenager you can deceive into following your twisted plans. I've paid my price for being so naïve and I have learned my lesson._"

Grindelwald gave a hollow laugh. "_You know no more than you did when you were a boy and led me right to your parents. You were a fool then, despite your obvious power, and I see no reason to think any better of you now! You could have been the greatest wizard in the world. The things I could have taught you and you threw them all away to be with your brother. You waste your powers._"

Dumbledore stood tall and proud, keeping the fiery rope firmly wrapped round his adversary. Slowly he withdrew an old battered book from his robes. Grindelwald's eyes narrowed but he said nothing further.

Dumbledore held the book aloft, "_Fool am I? I know all about your dirty secret. One which I hope you will take to your grave._"

Before either wizard could say anymore a third figure approached, Dumbledore smiled sadly. "_Aberforth, you are safe. I was worried that I may have lost my last remaining close family member to this abhorrent war._"

Ginny and Draco both gaped as they saw what had to be Dumbledore's younger brother. "He's the barman in the Hog's Head" Draco whispered, Ginny looked more closely and could indeed see the young man's face was the same, minus a few wrinkles and grey hair.

"_Help me brother._" Albus continued. "_Destroy this accursed artefact, a sharp knife through the pages and to the spine should work._"

Aberforth caught the book easily and drew a long knife from under his cloak. He paused for a long moment and his eyes suddenly started to roll backwards in his head. One hand seemed to be fighting with the other and Albus looked at him with more than a little concern.

As soon as it had begun the fit seemed to end. Aberforth swiftly plunged the knife into the book several times, causing Grindelwald to scream in pain and fury. A brilliant light shone from the book and Ginny imagined this was exactly like what happened when Harry had destroyed Tom Riddle's diary.

Aberforth panted heavily. "_Before…_ _Someone was trying to control me Albus…" _He nodded his head towards Grindelwald _"And not this one, I felt lots of power but not enough control._"

Albus looked thoughtful for a moment; he tugged at the rope around the dark wizard, who seemed somehow smaller. "_Have you taken on an apprentice Grindelwald? Do - do I know him?_"

A grin was the only reply Dumbledore received. "_Grindelwald, you know we are going to have to send you to Azkaban. You have committed horrific crimes, against wizards, muggles; even crimes against nature itself. To make a horcrux is repugnant to the world, the sheer amount of dark magic needed, the murder to be committed_." Dumbledore shook his head, not wanting to continue.

"_And yet it has awarded you with nothing. The defences protecting this book were pitiful. You tried to split your soul to give you two chances at life, but you have made yourself a half life. One not worth living. I doubt if even a dementor's kiss would do much to you now – you have so little human left in you. I doubt one could find someone so void of life and yet still able to be human_."

Draco stared at the dark wizard as if seeing him for the first time. The way that the young Dumbledore was describing him, it sounded so similar to the way he had come to feel about Voldemort. He wanted to know more about these Horcrux objects, were they all books? Out of the corner of his eye he saw a black haired young man creeping in the shadows and drawing a wand.

"Look out!" Draco cried.

Only Ginny responded; whipping her hair round and stumbling backwards when she saw a face from her nightmares. Tom Riddle, sneaking towards the group. "He's not real." She said out loud, more to herself than to Draco.

"Oh, you're right!" Draco said, realising that history stated Dumbledore defeated the first Dark Lord and he knew Aberforth was, to the best of his knowledge, still alive. He continued to watch the gory show, wondering what was about to happen.

Aberforth seemed to notice something was wrong and he sprang forwards towards the shadowy forest where Tom had been only moments before. Ginny was about to run after them to see what happened when suddenly Grindelwald finally broke free from his containment. The maddened wizard threw himself bodily towards Dumbledore, who just managed to jump out of the way. Backwards and forwards the hexes flew, many narrowly missing both wizards. Grindelwald let loose with an Avadra kadavra, which luckily Dumbledore just managed to avoid.

They continued to battle, the red haired wizard getting dangerously close to death many times until suddenly Dumbledore let loose what looked like a patronus. But instead of being the usual silvery coloured ethereal phoenix Ginny was used to seeing; this one was flaming with reds, gold and coppers.

The bird flew up into the air and then streaked downwards at an almighty speed to strike Grindelwald a direct hit in the chest. He let out an almighty scream, fell to the floor and writhed about for a while, finally falling still and letting out a final breath.

Footsteps came running up and Albus seemed to disappear into the background, he just faded from view. When Aberforth burst through the trees and into view a sigh was heard and Albus became visible once more.

"_I wish I could do that!_" Aberforth commented. "_I lost whoever it was creeping round, probably one of those crazy followers of his. I'm sure they will be rounded up soon enough_." He looked down at the body of Grindelwald, which was slowly turning to ashes before their eyes. "_What happened?_" he asked his brother quietly.

Albus sighed deeply. "_I avenged our parents, though it pained me to harm another human being, however far gone he was. If you are asking how I managed it, it was love that killed him brother dearest. I sent a spell of pure love at him and his hate filled body couldn't cope with it. People always seem to underestimate the power real love holds. Come, let us return to spread the good news." _

The two men, so similar looking, apparated away from the memory but as she felt the familiar tugging feeling of leaving a memory, Ginny felt sure she saw a familiar black haired figure creep into the clearing and remove something from the dead wizard's body.

* * *

**I'm a little worried that this may be my last update for a while… I'm getting married on Saturday and still have loads to do! I will try my hardest to squeeze another chapter in first as there are quite a few things going on in the next couple of chapters… **

**If not then I promise I will update as soon as I humanly can but I'm off to Disney world and the likes so will be away until nearly the end of June (yikes!) **

**Don't forget about me while I'm gone… I promise to finish the story! **


	35. Would you save me from myself?

**Hello all! Sorry I haven't updated for ages. I really did want to but I had so much stuff to do at home and every time I tried to write something I'd get about a line written and then have to get up to do something else. This has resulted in very patchy chapter which I've tried to re-write about 4 times! There's not really a lot happening in it either but the next one will have some action! **

**I know you guys probably all hate excuses but I really got myself all worked up about getting back into things and kept failing miserably!**

**I have started reading the new book but only last night. I already had the story all mapped out anyway so I'm not going to change anything (I think, unless there's a really cool idea that would work with the story but it's very unlikely that I'll be able to believably work much from the Deathly Hallows in to mine!) if there are any similarities then it is purely coincidence (unless I say I've nabbed that bit!)**

**Anyway, I hope you haven't forgotten me but I understand that I've left it a long time before updating so once again I grovel profusely!!! **

* * *

Ginny felt sure she saw a familiar black haired figure creep into the clearing and remove something from the dead wizard's body.

* * *

Ginny sucked in a deep breath and tried to stop herself form shaking, she knew that this was totally different from the diary but she couldn't get the memory of Tom's face out of her head. Dark memories came back to haunt her but she forced herself to dismiss them. _That wasn't me doing those things_ she thought. 

Draco looked at her, holding onto her elbow to steady her. "Are you ok?" he asked, she looked worried and weak to him. He was used to her being fiery and strong, seeing such a look of frailty on her face scared him a little.

"I'm fine… Just a little confused and... Well, I'm a little worried. Last time I went into a memory was Tom's Diary and you're well aware of how that ended."

Draco held her shoulders in his strong hands. "First off, Dumbledore isn't likely to possess you, even if he were alive to do so. Secondly… I won't let any harm come to you."

When Ginny looked up into his eyes she could see a fierce protectiveness she never thought would come from a Malfoy. She nodded and tiptoed to brush her lips gently against his.

"Thank you Draco. You're right and I'm probably being silly - but I'd feel better if you just kept an eye on me... He was there, in that memory."

Draco looked slightly confused for a moment, and then said in an almost toneless voice, "Riddle?"

Ginny took a deep breath before continuing, her voice steadier than she felt at that moment. "The dark haired man in the woods was Tom, so there's always a possibility he might have some power there… To this day I still don't know how he took over my body; I just can't remember the exact moment, what it felt like… if he came out of the diary or was just suddenly there, inside my head. One minute I can remember pouring all my secrets in the diary and the next I would wake up aching all over having just vague memories of doing those horrific things."

Draco embraced her tightly as he felt a shiver of horror go through her small body. He'd never felt this protective over someone before. Not knowing what to say that might comfort her he simply held her, gently stroking her hair and gradually feeling her relax until they were both taking deep, slow breaths at the same time. He kissed her tenderly on the top of her head and she looked up giving him a small smile.

Draco gazed down at her, with her eyes half closed he could see the way her dark auburn lashes contrasted with her creamy skin, making her look as though someone had scored lines of shimmering fire on her cheeks. Draco couldn't resist any longer, he bent his head down and kissed her gently, not wanting to take advantage of her. To Draco's surprise Ginny pushed him roughly onto one of the chairs and followed him down so she was straddling him. Draco pulled back slightly with a raised eyebrow.

"Virgin doesn't have to mean _completely_ inexperienced you know." Ginny murmured huskily in his ear before wrapping her arms around his shoulders and leaning in for another kiss.

Draco grabbed her tiny waist, and pulled her closer. He teased her by giving the smallest of kisses and just quickly flicked his tongue across her lip before kissing down her jaw line. He could tell that she was desperate for him to kiss her more deeply by the encouraging moans she kept giving every time his lips were on hers.

Ginny decided that if Draco could be a tease then so could she; she rocked her hips forwards and backwards, pressing herself hard against him and was satisfied when Draco moaned in her ear and pulled her down even closer against him.

Draco started kissing her more passionately than Ginny had ever been kissed before. She felt as though all of the nervous energy from the fear that she had felt earlier was now being replaced with a burning ardour and she put her all into the kiss.

One of Draco's hands was tracing the outline of her bra beneath her vest top and the other was stroking slow circles on the outside of her thigh under her skirt. Draco started kissing her neck and shoulders and Ginny gulped in great breaths of air. She caught sight of the boxes and piles of books and felt a strange wave of guilt at feeling so alive in a room so full of dead memories.

Suddenly felt like she should stop things before they got to a point where she wouldn't be able to stop herself, let alone a hormone-driven, teenage 'sex god'... "Draco…" she said as a gentle warning.

"What?" he asked innocently. "Are you worried I'm going to suddenly strip you of all your clothes?"

Ginny blushed. "A little!" she confessed. "It's my fault, I got a little carried away, but it was all so amazing I couldn't help myself! I just don't think I could have stopped if it had gone on any further and this isn't exactly the most romantic of settings… Not that I'm expecting you to be all romantic or anything." She stopped as she realised she was very close to gabbling out a load of nonsense.

Draco growled and lifted her upwards and off his lap before standing himself. Ginny was amazed that he could pick her up so effortlessly, but blushed even more furiously when she looked at him properly; the evidence of how much he'd been enjoying the kissing was still extremely obvious.

Draco followed her widened eyes down and smirked smugly, he was not the sort of person to feel embarrassed about such a display. "You're lucky I have so much self control you know, I don't know many other blokes who'd take this sort of appalling behaviour." He drawled. Ginny was worried until she saw the slightly amused look on his face. She poked her tongue out at him.

Draco pulled a face of mock distress. "And now you're flaunting what I can't have… I don't know; you walk about parading yourself before me. It's quite deplorable you know!" Amazed at his ability to keep a straight face, Ginny resorted to measures normally only used against her brothers; she threw a cushion at his face. Admittedly she felt that it was a lot less satisfying that he caught it. "You just love winding people up don't you?" She asked.

Draco laughed finally. "Well at least I didn't say '_woe is me'_. I could have thrown my arm dramatically over my brow but I felt that would be over-doing it somewhat… Come on then you scarlet woman, lets get back to work seeing as there's nothing better to do. I'm going to see if I can find out someway to control what memories you can see in that overgrown birdbath."

Draco was surprisingly calm about the whole experience. He had resigned himself to waiting as long as Ginny needed; after all if it wasn't for her he would probably have been rotting away in some dark corner of the forest and wouldn't be able to manage any lustful thoughts at all. Although it didn't help matters that she made him feel so alive; when they kissed he had felt like nothing else mattered, all he wanted was to be there in that moment.

He sighed quietly without realising but Ginny didn't notice either, at his mention of researching how to find memories her thoughts had suddenly shot back to Tom. She pushed a stray lock of her cherry red hair behind her ear and looked lost in thought. Finally she spoke.

"Draco?" Ginny waited until Draco had turned to face her before continuing. "If something did happen to me, I mean if I started acting differently… I'd need you to stop me, save me from myself if thinking that makes it easier for you to do… However much force you need to use. I don't want to hurt people again."

She paused staring at the floor, after a while Draco went to move closer but at his movement she looked up and gave him a half smile.

"Anyway, I was thinking, if I'm counting on you then I really think you should have a wand. Not wanting to sound rude but if Tom suddenly finds a way back in here-" she tapped her head at that point. "Then you'll need as much protection as you can get."

Draco nodded. "Remus suggested getting me a wand when we were discussing my training." His pale features suddenly turned sly. "You forgot to ask me by the way, about our deal – you agreed to tell me what was wrong with you if I explained about being a better leglimens! You shouldn't forget bargains like that Ginny, you'll miss out!"

He picked up a quill from the table and twirled it expertly between his agile fingers, waiting until Ginny eventually gave into her curiosity with a big huff of breath and asked what he meant. With a satisfied smirk he explained.

"When you were away for that week all the people you left behind just couldn't get enough of me, I can totally understand that I'm a fascinating person to be around. Tonks even cut my hair for me, which by the way you haven't complimented me on!"

He ran his hands through his silvery-blond hair as if to demonstrate the point. Ginny smiled at his egotistical nature, it was quite endearing really and it wasn't as if he was bragging falsely. "It's lovely, I noticed at the wedding; now do get on with it please?"

Draco scoffed but continued. "Fine! Anyway, Remus was bugging me a lot about the whole deal with me saving you without a wand and we got to chatting about what I was capable of in the different areas. He offered to give me a few lessons on different things that I would have learned in these final years at school. He wanted to teach me better leglimency but he also wants to see if he can help me control my wandless magic. He's not too sure if he can help with that as it's not something many wizards can do once they're adults. Anyway, he also explained a very little about the corporeal patronuses. I was fascinated after seeing everyone cast one at Bill's wedding and that spell that Dumbledore cast in the memory looked peculiarly similar - so hopefully Remus can tell me more about that… Unless you want to indulge my curiosity?"

Ginny couldn't help but grin. "It will probably be easier if I just show you once you have a wand. How did Remus suggest getting you one?"

Draco shrugged lazily with one shoulder; he managed to carry off even such a graceless gesture with aplomb. "Something very boring which involved talking with certain people at the ministry and then sending off for a selection of wands from abroad. I wasn't really listening."

Ginny suddenly looked very shifty, which piqued Draco's interest immensely. "What?" he asked.

She shuffled her feet a little before looking up at him with a very mischievous glint in her eye. "How do you feel about a little breaking and entering?"


	36. Missing

**Sorry I haven't updated for ages... My life has been so busy recently. I can't complain as I've been having a brilliant time but I do feel really bad that I haven't updated before now. I seem to have so many things that I'm interested in and I'm trying to devote equal time to them all! (Well more time to my husband obviously because otherwise he would sulk!!!)**

**I wanted to mention Lost Enchanter and say thanks. She's been a great help recently in getting me back into the HP mood and chatting to me about the last book. I was a bit depressed about certain things (if you haven't finished it I won't spoil anything for you... But hurry up! lol) but she really cheered me up and gave me a great outlook on things. Plus she has a fab story and great digital art!!!!**

**Some parts of my plot are quite similar to the last book but I won't tell you which bit as if you've read it you will know and if you haven't I don't want to ruin anything! I did have the plot pretty much sorted before the book so any similarities are co-incidental and based on either my imagination or plots that I've discussed with people in chat rooms/forums before the last book. If I do include anything that has been influenced by the Deathly Harrows I will mention the chapter but not the specific part (reasons the same as above!)**

**It's my birthday on Tuesday so I probably won't update this week... I really want to be more frequent but I don't want to promise something and then let you all down lol!**

**Anyway - I hope you're all enjoying the summer hols. More sun for the UK please?!? Send some of your sun this way!**

* * *

She shuffled her feet a little before looking up at him with a very mischievous glint in her eye. "How do you feel about a little breaking and entering?"

* * *

Draco studied Ginny for a minute, watching her animated face carefully, while keeping his perfectly emotionless. "Elaborate a little for me." He told her eventually.

"Ok, everyone knows that Ollivander has disappeared, a lot of people think he willingly went to the Dark Lord but who knows… Anyway, I happen to know that he took very few of his wands with him."

Ginny grabbed her bag from under the table at pulled out a pink rubbery item which she passed to Draco before continuing.

"Fred and George gave me a load of their joke products including some of their extendable ears. A few months ago I was listening in to one of the Order's meetings and Dad updated them on loads of stuff. The ministry have boarded up the shop but the security there is pathetic, Scrimgeour doesn't want to admit how big the problem with Voldemort is so he doesn't feel the need to make a big show of protecting people or their property. It should be easy for us to get in there, get you a wand and then get back here."

"I never realised you were so mischievous Ginny."

She grinned and remarked. "If you had Fred and George as older brothers, egging you on to throw dungbombs down the corridors you would be a bit roguish too. Well, unless you're boring like Percy but he's barely even one of us anymore. The only real difference between me and the twins is that I'm better at getting out of trouble than they are."

Draco let his emotional mask slip just enough to let out a noise of disbelief. "You could have fooled me. The amount of times I've had to save your arse and that's only in the last month or so."

Ginny gave him a look that most of the men she knew would quail from and was about to remind him of the many times he'd needed her help but he interrupted her before she had a chance to.

"I don't think it's a good idea. I'll wait for Lupin." He slithered gracefully back down into the chair, picked a book up from the side and started to leaf through it, completely ignoring Ginny's open mouthed look of absolute astonishment.

"And please stop spluttering like that would you. It's not the most attractive thing you've ever done."

Ginny shut her mouth instantly and turned an interesting shade of beetroot. She took a couple of deep breaths and continued in a much calmer manner.

"Are you scared then Draco?"

"I might be if there was even the smallest possibility that I was going, but we're not so you can stop trying to play mind games with me." He put his feet up on the table and slid even further down in his chair, looking so much like the master of the house that Ginny almost smiled.

Instead of shouting and getting mad, Ginny decided to take a leaf out of Draco's book and play it cool. "Ok, well if you aren't coming with me then do you have any preference of wand? I think Veela hair would suit you perfectly, maybe in oak – very regal."

"Don't be childish Ginny. You're not going. It's too dangerous. After the last few times I would have thought that you had learned that."

"It might be dangerous - but you need a wand and this is the only way of getting one. I doubt Remus will be able to get anything from the ministry; they will just put him off and load him with paperwork. I'm going and you can't stop me."

Draco put the book down extremely carefully and Ginny knew he was keeping his temper in. "I _can_ stop you Ginny, even if I have to tie you down. Your parents asked me to keep an eye on you and I'll do whatever is necessary to keep you from harm. Do you understand?"

Ginny huffed at him, trying not to lose her temper. She shook her head vehemently sending cascades of fire flying round her face.

"I understand what you're trying to say but you're wrong. You can't stop me without using physical strength and hurting me, I have a wand and you don't. And what if something did happen? What if I went nuts or Death Eaters broke in. How much of a protector would you be then without a wand? Just because you saved me once without a wand doesn't mean you can do it automatically every time. Can't you see this is the only way? If you come with me then we will be safer, we can look out for each other. Please?"

Draco felt frustrated; he needed a wand and had no way of contacting Remus to get one. All of what Ginny said was right but he was worried about the dangers involved.

"Let me think about it. Give me half an hour, ok?"

Ginny nodded her acquiescence and said that she would get them some food to take. "Just in case you agree of course… We can always eat it here if you don't."

Draco shook his head as she left, he knew he had already lost the discussion and losing was something he hated to do. Although it seemed to happen to him a lot more than he liked when he was battling Gryffindors. He sighed and thought he might as well look through the boxes of belongings some more while he waited for Ginny to come back with the food.

The amount of objects he couldn't recognise in the boxes was immense. He desperately hoped that somewhere Dumbledore had written down what these things did. Draco was sure that at least half of them were of the old man's own devising and was worried about the possible side effects of using any of them. He started sorting the boxes into things that he knew and things he didn't. Even the pile of recognisable objects was impressive; there were many rare and valuable charms and trinkets there.

As he took a step back to survey the piles, Draco's leg brushed up against a previously unseen box. He almost discarded the container; it was so old that it had a thin layer of mould in three of the corners. However something made him take a second look, with the toe of his boot he nudged open the top of the box and saw that it was filled with a silvery material, more expensive looking than most fabrics he had seen before.

Draco couldn't understand why something so obviously valuable had been left in such a small grimy box. It must have had a protective charm on it though as it hadn't been tarnished by age at all. Leaning down, Draco wrinkled his nose at the musty smell from the damp cardboard and carefully pulled the cloth from the box.

The material flowed out when he pulled, and as it came fully out of the box it turned out to be a large and intricately made cloak. Draco felt his heart leap into his throat. If he was right about what this was then any worries he had about going to Ollivander's were vanquished. Tentatively he draped the cloak over his shoulders and lifted up a covered arm. It was invisible – not just slightly see-through like some of the cheap potions could make you, but completely transparent. He looked down, there wasn't even a shadow being cast by him.

_This has to be the most expensive and powerful invisibility cloak ever made._ Draco thought to himself. _I have to show Ginny!_ He threw open the door and ran along the corridor and down the creaky stairs until he reached the kitchen.

"Ginny! You **_have_** to see this." He said as he pushed the big, heavy door. "Ginny?" Entering the room he couldn't see Ginny anywhere, he poked his head into the little larder but she wasn't there.

Starting to panic slightly, Draco called out loudly. "Ginny, I need you here right now!" After a moment he added, "Ginny. This isn't amusing. If you don't come out here right now then we definitely aren't going to the shop."

Closing his eyes, Draco concentrated hard on Ginny's image, her smell, the way she felt when he held her. He thought about the sound of her voice and the way her flaming hair fell softly around her face. He couldn't sense her at all in the house.

For the first time since he had been in the house Draco felt a real sense of panic. Years of conditioning stopped him from running frantically round the house; he wanted to run manically, tearing down curtains and throwing over furniture in a desperate hunt for this person who had found a place in his heart. But instead he removed the cloak, stowed it in a handy drawer and then methodically searched for Ginny room to room, looking in every nook and cranny - even if there was no possible way to fit a person in the gap he looked.

Halfway through the house Draco was forced to stop by the pure pressure he felt pressing on his chest. Every step made him feel as though he was going to be sick and he had long been cold and goosebumped with fear.

He called out in desperation, "Ginny, please come out. We can go wherever you want. I promise…"

When no answer came he continued in his meticulously planned route of the house, finally stopping in the one room his last hopes lay in; the medical room. Stiffly Draco opened all the cupboards, hoping against all hope that in one he would fine a red headed vixen, laughing harmlessly at her innocent trickery. He promised himself he wouldn't even be angry; he would just hold her and make her promise never to scare him so badly again.

When his search proved fruitless Draco finally lost his nerve, he had scoured every room in the house, leaving Ginny no escape route should she have been playing a game with him. Now he knew for certain that his intuition was right and Ginny was gone. Frantically Draco rushed to the shelf containing the summoning ornaments; he grabbed Ginny's dragon and held it so tightly to his chest that unknown to him he was left with a smattering of bruises across the area of his heart.

Nothing. Draco couldn't feel any warmth from it. He placed it carefully in his pocket and grabbed another, Hermione's cat. Still nothing. In a blind panic Draco swept the shelf's worth of models into his arms and fell to the floor desperately grasping different shapes and dropping or throwing them when no heat formed.

Finally Draco sensed a warming feeling in his fist; through filmy eyes he realised the figurine he was holding was a phoenix. Harry's symbol.

Pacing the room, Draco felt a tingling feeling growing in the small of his back. Without knowing why he strode to the front door. Just in time he wrenched it open and was faced by an angry but very ragged looking Harry; behind him was an extremely bedraggled Ron. Both quailed slightly at the look on Draco's face but regained their irate looks almost immediately.

"She's gone, where is she?" asked Harry, barging his way through the door, most unwisely in Draco's opinion.

"That's why I called you!" Draco spat angrily, ready for a fight; he would almost welcome the distraction.

"I figured as much." Harry yelled, "What have you done with her?"

Draco looked at Harry as if he were an amoeba; wondering if he was truly that blind to think he would harm Ginny.

Looking at the aloof, platinum framed face, Harry thought Draco needed some clarification. "One minute she was there, I went to get a drink and then she had just disappeared from the flat."

Draco was taken aback. "Ginny was with you?"

Harry's jaw dropped and a look of pure confusion passed over both his and Ron's face. After the smallest of gaps Harry managed to utter a sentence "_Ginny_?? What are you talking about… Ginny and I split up, she's fine **-** _Pansy_ is missing."

"I know you split up you absolute imbecile… You never got back together - Ginny and I have been an item for weeks." Draco could almost have taken pleasure in the look of shock that appeared on the midnight-black haired boy's features, but he was still far too worried about Ginny, and the added absence of Pansy concerned him even further. He took a deep breath...

"I think Ginny's missing too – I… I know she is. For about an hour now"

Ron's face crumpled. "Hermione too… She said that she was going to the library but she's been gone too long. I went to the library and they said no one of her description had been there. At first I assumed she had disguised herself so no Death eaters would recognise her but after hearing this..." Ron paused and swept his hand through his hair roughly.

"I think Hermione's in danger; Pansy and Ginny too…"


	37. All for one?

**Hello, so it looks like I might just get another update in just before my birthday! Someone who reviewed very kindly pointed out that I'm a complete dunderhead and Ginny's been performing magic underage! In a flash of quick thinking (hmm…) I've decided that my official comeback on that is that she's been granted exemption from the law as she has to be able to perform magic at the drop of a (pointy) hat when she's doing the junior Mediwitch thing… Acceptable? **

**Do I need to write it into the story or are you all ok with this explanation? **

**Anyway, as it's my birthday tomorrow I feel that for once I'm allowed to grovel for some reviews lol! I don't mind if they're just one word or a smiley (or grumpy) face. But to help me get through the working day tomorrow (I used up all my holiday on my honeymoon so I can't really complain!) a few extra reviews would be good!**

* * *

"I think Hermione's in danger; Pansy and Ginny too…"

* * *

All three boys stood silently for a moment, none sure how to voice their fears. Ron shifted a large bag awkwardly from shoulder to shoulder. 

"It's Voldemort, isn't it?" Draco asked. Ron looked uneasy and Harry seemed unwillingly impressed.

"You aren't afraid to say his name?" He asked

Draco scoffed. "Were you still expecting me to call him the Dark Lord? It's only a name and not even his real one. Once you've been sentenced to death by someone, their nickname seems a little less important to you. Plus, if it is him that's taken Ginny then it's my name he should be scared of."

Harry shook his head. "Don't be a fool Malfoy. Voldemort's probably the most powerful wizard alive now we've lost Dumbledore. You shouldn't be so overconfident."

"Yeah whatever Potter. That's why you've been able to defeat him what, 5 or 6 times?"

"I was lucky and he wasn't at his full power then. I always seem to have help or protection of some kind. I'm not hopeful now we've lost Dumbledore."

Draco sneered at Harry. "Merlin's beard Potter you're both pessimistic and pathetic. I hope you're good at boosting his confidence Weasley or otherwise I might be forced to put an end to his snivelling before Voldemort has the chance."

Ron butted in before Harry had a chance to retaliate. "This is serious Malfoy, not a light hearted walk around the Manor. We don't even know that it was you-know-who that took them."

"It was" Harry and Draco said in unison.

Ron eyed them both suspiciously. "How can you be so sure?"

"I can just feel it." Said Harry, moving his hand to his scar – an unconscious gesture Ron had recently seen him make increasingly frequently.

Draco nodded as if in agreement with Harry's statement. "Plus, it's the only thing that makes sense. No-one else would want the three girls and I doubt if any of them would just disappear without telling someone."

Ron nodded before tentatively asking, "Do you think it's to get at Harry in some way? I mean you-know-Wh..." Ron swallowed hard… not wanting to be outdone by Malfoy he tried again. "Voldemort wouldn't know who Harry was with. Bloody Skeeter made every one think that him and Hermione were together; and it was no secret about you being with my sister." Ron frowned a little at the thought. "And now-"

"Stop right there." Harry interrupted quickly, sneaking a glance at Draco from the corner of his eyes. "Before you start _that_ again, Pansy and I are just friends."

Ron looked triumphant. "But _Voldemort_ doesn't know that does he? Maybe he just took them all just in case?"

Draco shook his head. "You're both wrong. If Voldemort was unsure about whom Harry was dreaming about polishing his wand over he'd have just taken you; the Ginger Weasel. After all you're the one who means everything to Harry, aren't you? His tri-wizard tournament prize… His confidant. His best friend."

Draco ignored the disgusted and angry looks he was getting and continued. "I don't think he wanted them as bait. He has another reason for doing what he did… Most importantly we need to find out how he got to them. I mean surely there are just as many wards protecting wherever you were as there are here?"

Ron and Harry looked at each other, Draco could tell that they felt uncomfortable discussing anything with him.

"Look, let's not stand here in the hallway, come to the kitchen. Whether you guys like it or not I'm going to be involved in this. You don't like me and I'm not exactly your biggest fan either. However, we all have something at stake here so we need to work together. Merlin's staff, I never thought I'd hear myself say something like that."

He started off down the corridor without waiting to see if they would follow, after a few moments of hurried whispering and exaggerated hand gestures the two reluctantly trailed after him.

When they got to the kitchen Draco was rummaging through cupboards, pulling out different foods, looking at them briefly and then shoving them back. Harry cleared his throat and Draco turned to give him a disdainful look.

"I don't know about you, but I'm hungry and I have been brought up to be a good host and provide for my guests, even if I don't particularly like them." He peered at Ron and Harry for a second before turning his back again and continuing.

"However, it would seem that I have a slight problem in that I wasn't brought up to cook, so it would appear that we have a choice of… some sort of dried fruit or a small chunk of extremely smelly cheese."

"Cheese" piped up Ron immediately although slightly morosely, he could already feel his stomach grumbling.

"You're both absolutely useless." Stated Harry pulling out half the food Draco had stuffed back in the cupboards and proceeding to start what looked to the other two boys to be a very promising fry-up.

A little miffed about being outdone Draco commented. "So where did you learn house elf duties Potter? Slaving away for those muggle relatives of yours or during the passionate nights spent with Dobby in the kitchens?"

Ron looked up angrily but before he could say anything Harry replied calmly, "You were closer with the first Malfoy; I'm not really into inter-species relationships. But if you have a problem with my cooking I can just do food for Ron and myself and leave the _yummy_ cheese for you."

Draco withheld a scowl and thought quickly how to keep his food and his pride. "I'm allergic to cheese Potter so I guess I'll have to eat what you've cooked. I'll be no help if I'm starving, will I."

Harry made a non-committal noise and finished off the food in silence, obviously deep in thought. When he'd served it up onto plates and all three of them were tucking in he commented matter-of-factly.

"You'll be no help anyway Malfoy. You've got no wand and you're too headstrong to stick to a plan. You'd probably get us into trouble rather than out of it. We came here because I felt my summoning charm warm up and thought it might be the girls. When I realised it must have been you I then wondered if you had any information but you obviously don't so Ron and I should carry on looking once we've stocked up on supplies."

Draco put his knife and fork down slowly and carefully, Harry noticed this and put his cutlery down too, both looking directly into each other's eyes. Ron looked between Malfoy and Harry uneasily but carried on eating, if somewhat faster than before. This type of tension wasn't a good thing and he figured he could at least finish his food before the fighting started.

"Potter, you can't tell me what to do, if I don't go with you I'll go on my own and that's fine by me. But I know an awful lot more about the Death Eaters and Voldemort than you do and I could more than likely help prevent a lot of nasty situations. If I could choose anyone else to do this with I would, but I'm stuck with no other choice. Things _will_ be easier for us all if we work together." He paused for a second to sigh deeply, talking like this made him feel uneasy. He wasn't used to being straight with people.

"I know that you have got information that you don't want to share with me which will slow my search down if I'm on my own, but I'm not stupid and I will find a way to get Ginny back.;

At the comment about information Harry's eyes had flicked towards Ron who shook his head almost, but not quite imperceptibly. Draco rolled his eyes at their lack of guile.

"No, Ron didn't tell me – and don't look so shocked that I know what you're thinking. Please try to get it into your thick heads. I am a Slytherin in my heart and we are good at deceit and trickery, and practised at seeing through other people's acts. Most of the people you are going up against were schooled just like me… You two are about as transparent as Madame Rosmerta's underwear... You need me – without Hermione you are lacking any brains in your little group and I don't want to risk you two messing things up and getting Ginny hurt."

Ron looked a little less hostile at the idea of Draco joining them but Harry's lips were set in a stubborn line. "I can manage just fine thank you Malfoy." He said coldly. "I think we're clever enough not to fall into any stupid traps. You'd probably sell us out anyway."

Harry immediately regretted the words; he didn't really think Draco would do such a thing but he was angry. Angry that his friends had gone missing and he didn't know where; angry that Ron had thought Hermione was captured because of him; That the truth was they _did_ rely on Hermione to do all the intelligent things. Mainly, he was angry that it was Draco Malfoy who was telling him what was happening.

Before he had a chance to apologise, Draco was replying haughtily. "You wouldn't fall into any stupid traps? Like when you went running to the ministry because Voldemort had planted false information in your head and Sirius Black got killed? I know all about that. He followed you there - followed you to his death. I don't want the same fate for Ginny, or Pansy."

Although moments before Harry had wanted to apologise to Draco - now he just wanted to punch him. He stood up so quickly that his chair went crashing backwards onto the floor. Draco was also standing in a flash, although a lot more gracefully.

Looking sadly at the remains of his food, Ron also stood, ready to prize the two apart; maybe getting a quick elbow in Malfoy's ribs – entirely by accident of course. He watched dubiously as Harry struggled with his emotions.

"How dare you…If Snape had tried to train me properly Voldemort wouldn't have been able to put those thoughts in my head. It's _his_ fault Sirius died not mine."

Draco scoffed. "You just weren't good enough."

Harry's face had gone very red and Draco expected him to start hexing at any minute; but surprising both Ron and Draco, Harry said through gritted teeth. "We're leaving Ron. We don't need him with us. Come on."

He started to walk towards the door, after only a moment's hesitation Ron followed.

"STOP." Yelled Draco, so forcefully he thought his throat might explode. As he shouted he felt power flowing from within him. Harry and Ron were both thrown down to the floor. Both Gryffindor boys craned their heads from their positions on the floor to look at the platinum blond, standing and staring at his hands as if they belonged to someone else.

"I... Are you ok?" he sputtered, one of the most un-Malfoy like things Harry had ever seen him do

Ron stood up first. "Bloody hell Malfoy... what did you do? That was bloody amazing... Horrible, but amazing!"

Harry also looked at Malfoy with a new respect, although he was still furious. "I thought you didn't have a wand Malfoy?"

Draco looked up from his stupor. "I don't... But I need one. Will you come to Ollivander's with me? I know I can be abrasive at times but this is more important than you and me. For Ginny's sake I'll try to be reasonable. You help me and I'll help you and together we can rescue the girls. OK?"

Harry was still shocked at the force of the magic that Draco had sent flying at him; he looked at Ron who nodded his agreement forcefully. "Ok. But there will be conditions... We can discuss them if we get out of Ollivander's..."

* * *

**So it's actually my birthday now!! It's just gone 1.00 and I've desperately tried to finish – so I ended the chapter before I wanted to but I have quite a bit scribbled down so hopefully you won't have to wait too long! **

**I know Draco is talking quite differently to the other two than he would to Ginny but I'm hoping that it's keeping in character for him... I don't think he would talk the same way to Ginny as he would to other blokes, let alone those two!! **


	38. Voldemort's Plan

**I have made a small change to how I had planned this chapter. I was previously going to have Draco travel with Ron to Ollivander's but after reading the last book I changed that around so Harry took him. **

**The bag was an idea I had previously because I always wondered in all these sort of stories how people managed to carry around so much stuff without hurting their backs lol (Ok some of the characters are trained soldiers like Sparhawk so that's ok but if I had to lug all my possessions around with me I'd end up sulking – I'd make a really bad fantasy character!) **

**Anyway my bag's not as pretty as Hermione's! **

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"Ok. But there will be conditions... We can discuss them if we get out of Ollivander's..."

* * *

Harry and Ron stood anxiously by the front door, waiting for Draco to return. Harry looked especially annoyed and was tapping his foot impatiently. When Draco finally came down the stairs Harry snapped, "What were you doing up there. We haven't got all the time in the world you know. Voldemort could be doing anything to those girls right now." 

Ron's face fell even further. "If he hurts them I'll-"

Draco cut him off mid-sentence. "- He won't hurt them. Not yet anyway." Ron looked at him questioningly but Harry wasn't convinced.

"You don't know that." He snapped angrily.

Draco looked ready to snap back but instead said quietly, "Actually I think I do. I'll explain on the way to Ollivander's. Can you both Apparate?"

Ron nodded once and Harry said quickly "Of course."

"Wonderful." Draco said in a tone that suggested it was anything but. "One of you will have to Side-Along Apparate with me. Oh and by the way Potter, have you lost that invisibility cloak you had?"

Harry looked worried for a second and scrabbled frantically through the bulky bag Ron had been holding earlier. He breathed a sigh of relief. "No, why would you ask such a weird question?"

"Why would you carry around such a huge bag?" Draco retorted. "It must weigh a tonne, what happens if you have to run anywhere? That's just stupid."

Ron decided to answer the question before Harry bit Draco's head off. "We've got a lot of important stuff that we need and can't leave anywhere. We're taking it in turns to carry it."

"Simpletons." Draco murmured. "Here, Madame Malkin taught me the spell to shrink trunks and bags, lend me your wand and I should be able to shrink yours. Once it's done you should just be able to accio items out of it and they will grow to full size."

Ron held his wand out tentatively but Harry pushed it back down to Ron's side. "Can't we just use Reducio?" When Draco shook his head Harry then asked, "Can't you just teach us then?"

Draco sighed and dragged his hand through his pale hair. "Fine, although it will cost us more time." After several failed attempts they finally managed to shrink the bag down so it was small enough to fit into Harry's pocket.

"Ok let's go. Who's better at Apparition?"

" Me." - "Harry." Replied Harry and Ron simultaneously. Ron had lost half an eyebrow in his first attempt at the Apparition examination and was still slightly nervous about splinching himself.

"It figures." Muttered Draco sardonically. "Fine, are you going to take me then Potter or are you going to kick up a stink?"

Harry sighed. "I'll take you I suppose, we agreed to go so I can't go back on my word. But as soon as we get there you're explaining about your theory. I want to know why you seem so sure the girls are safe."

"I never said they were safe. Just that if I'm right they won't have been hurt and we have at least a little time to get organised. Weasley we'll meet you in the street behind Ollivander's that I told you about. Don't let anyone see you. Come on then Potter, let's get this over with."

Harry grabbed Draco's arm roughly and Apparated them without a word. Draco had gotten so used to Apparating that he was fully prepared for the tight squeezing feeling that enveloped his body. He was surprised that Harry was so adept, instead of the large bang he was expecting there was merely a small popping noise; almost as quietly as he would have managed it.

Ron however was another matter - his appearance, only moments after Harry and Draco had arrived, was met with a very large bang. Quickly grabbing the other two Draco dragged them back so they were crouching behind some large bins in a dark corner and held one long thin finger up to his lips.

When he was sure that no one was going to come looking for them, Draco straightened up. "We need to use the back way in. If what Ginny said is right then no one should be watching this shop. Although they won't be able to see us anyway." He added cryptically.

Before he could make it clear what he planned, Harry grabbed his arm quite forcefully, pushed him back against one of the dirty brick walls framing the street and said, "You need to explain about the girls before I'm letting you go anywhere."

Draco shook Harry's hand off, gave him a warning shove backwards and threw him a look most of their fellow pupils would have quailed at. "I don't require your permission to do anything. You'd better drop that sort of attitude straight away."

Ron sighed, he hated conflict at the best of times, if Hermione and Harry ever argued he loathed trying to get them to talk again and this was a million times worse because he couldn't give Harry any real reasons to 'make friends' with Draco. If he didn't do something though he was certain it would all end in violence. At the moment he wasn't sure who would come off worse, the blonde or the raven haired wizard, both were pretty angry.

Ron wrinkled his freckled nose in annoyance – he was angry too. "Look Malfoy, we're all worried, right? You seem to know something that might put our minds at ease. Can't you two just save up the pointless arguments for when the girls are safe? That's _my_ Hermione and _my_ sister we're talking about – I've got double the worries you have so both of you give it a break."

Draco shrugged one shoulder lazily in agreement; he managed to give off an air of nonchalance despite the uneasy feelings he had brewing in his chest. Harry however looked at Ron in shock; he wasn't used to Ron not backing him up where Malfoy was concerned.

Before he had a chance to say anything though Draco cleared his throat, "Fine I'll tell you what I know, but we need to go somewhere that we can cast an Imperturbable Charm, it won't work on this whole street. There's a small alley at the back of Ollivander's with a gate on it which will do – _if we have your permission of course oh wondrous one._" He added sarcastically to Harry.

Harry, already annoyed at the whole situation snapped back. "I'll go check it out and make sure it's empty and safe first. What a great idea that would be if we ran into a load of people."

He pulled the shrunken bag from his pocket while muttering Accio cloak. Because he was mumbling so much the bag spat out several things at once. In frustration Harry enlarged the bag using the spell Draco had shown him, pulled the thick silver material out and thrust the bag at Ron a little harder than was necessary. "Here, _you_ sort it out. I'll be back in a minute."

Draco smirked at the hurt look on Ron's face as Harry turned and stomped off, pulling the cloak over his head and literally disappearing. Both the remaining boys stood and listened for a while, Draco wondered briefly if Harry was still there spying on him but he quickly dropped the thought. Harry was too anxious to find out what his Slytherin adversary knew to wait around.

Ron stood for a while after Harry had gone with a look on his face. Finally he couldn't take it any longer and turned to face Draco asking, "You're not really an item with my sister are you?"

He continued in what he hoped was a light-hearted way even as he clenched and unclenched his hands in a mixture of nervousness and anger. "You just said that to wind Harry up right?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "The answers are Yes and No… in that order."

In the few seconds it took Ron to filter what he had heard, Draco examined his nails in a very relaxed manner.

Ron's face went through a full range of colours, starting at red and passing through a very sickly green, which clashed with his cinnamon hair terribly; finally settling on white which brought out his freckles. "Have you-"

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to ask." Ron said, feeling a tiny bit less sick but still not too happy about the idea of his sister with the human ferret, even if Malfoy had changed like Hermione kept trying to convince him.

"Weasley, I'm the same age as you – I know perfectly well what you were thinking. Even if I don't have a sister to get all protective over I'm not stupid - as I keep on having to remind the both of you. Anyway, it hasn't really been weeks – I did say that bit just to wind Potter up. We only really got together…"

Draco paused to think about the moment that things had finally happened between him and Ginny – he shook his head when he realised that the wedding was only yesterday. It seemed like at least a week had passed already. So much had happened in just over 24 hours that it made his head spin. _No wonder she was worried about me moving too fast_, he thought. He had said to her that he wanted time for them to be together before telling anyone and here he was having '_the discussion'_ with her brother already. That was more that he'd been willing to do for any girl in the past.

Draco shook his head as if to clear it. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about his past relationships, or what his new one with Ginny may come to. He shut off his clamouring thoughts in a corner of his mind and regained his cool composure. "We got together yesterday so I haven't had time to fully work my charms on her yet."

Ron's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. Draco smirked, at least some things in life were the same; Weasley was as easy to wind up as ever. However now wasn't the time to have both of his cohorts angry with him. "Look before you give me the clichéd line about _if you hurt my sister,_ I'll just say that if I mess her head up you have my full permission to challenge me to a wizard's duel. Fair?"

Ron had been thinking along the lines of Draco taking whatever punishment he and his other brothers deemed reasonable; he didn't really like the idea of duelling Draco but then again he didn't want Draco to think that he didn't like the idea…

"Fine, fair I guess. But I'm still not happy about it all and… well – I'll be keeping an eye on you." He finally muttered with as much force as he could muster.

Draco sneered at Ron, not worried in the slightest. He imagined Ginny was more than capable of handling herself without her oaf of a brother interfering the whole time. The thought of Ginny sent another shiver of panic down his spine. Again he forced the thought away and instead concentrated on the best way to explain about his theory on her abduction.

It wasn't long before Harry returned; he pushed the cloak's hood back causing his already messy hair to stick up at strange angles. He looked a little calmer then he had when he left. "It's clear, there's absolutely no-one around and the alley leads right up to the back entrance of Ollivander's. Let's go."

Draco pushed himself away from the wall that he had been leaning gracefully on and threw Harry a mock wizard's salute. "Whatever you say sir." Was his sarcastic remark before he pushed past Harry and strolled towards the alley.

"Don't let him get to you – it's just Malfoy." Ron muttered to Harry.

The half of Harry that was visible looked tense and about to snap but then he sighed. "You're right Ron; I'm just very worried right now. Sorry mate."

Ron threw his arm around Harry's invisible shoulders. "I know. So am I - but much as I hate to say this; we all need to work together. He's an annoying git but the sooner we get our girls back the sooner we can get him out of our lives."

Harry gave Ron a look as they started following Draco. "Pansy is not my girl. Nothing happened last night ok. Quit looking for something that isn't there."

Draco had stopped and was waiting for the pair in the alley by the old wooden gate which looked ready to collapse. "Too true nothing happened – I saw how drunk you were. I doubt you'd even have been able to find your wand let alone anything else. Besides you two make such a lovely couple – why ruin that." He smirked and Ron quickly pulled his arm back from Harry's shoulder.

"Guess you wouldn't understand the concept of friends Malfoy." Harry said a little wearily while pulling his cloak off fully. "Come on, let's get this over with." He pushed the gate closed behind them and cast the Imperturbable spell which would prevent anyone from eavesdropping on them.

"Spill." Harry said.

Draco pressed his lips together tightly and ran a hand through his perfect silvery- blonde hair. "Ok, here goes. I've always been good at compartmentalising my brain, shutting off certain emotions and feelings-"

Harry interrupted him. "This had better not be a life story Malfoy. Does this charming tale have a point?"

"Yes, shut up and listen and I'll get there a lot sooner. During my delightful extended torture sessions with Voldemort following my failure to kill Dumbledore, I started trying to shut out the part of my brain that registered pain. I never really succeeded apart from this one time; I just felt like I'd closed a door and the pain didn't really affect me like it had…

I guess Voldemort thought he'd pushed me too hard and I'd passed out because he just left me lying there on the floor and called in Bellatrix; my simply adorable Aunt – who of course was so overwhelmed by emotion at the sight of her poor Nephew's body lying on the floor that she asked if he needed her to dispose of my body. Naturally I stayed pretty quiet."

Draco paused and a look that neither of the other boys could quite recognise flitted over his features. He shrugged and continued.

"Anyway Old Voldy had something else in mind. He asked Bella if there had been any progress in finding suitable witches for the coven. Her reply was pretty strange; she said something like: _It is impossible my Lord. The qualities you have asked me to look for are not ones found amongst many witches; let alone finding one who is unsullied. By the time they are mature enough to have even close to full power, most witches have lost that particular innocence._" Draco paused for a moment to make sure he had remembered everything his Aunt had said before continuing.

"Voldemort got a bit annoyed at that point, hissing on about needing the witches before 'The door of Brelnan' opens and that if they didn't have the attributes of 'The Coven of Four' then the weapon could not be summoned. He said something about _it has been written_ about three times too. So there you have it – they will be safe for fourteen days"

Ron and Harry both looked completely befuddled.

"How'd you figure that out?" Ron asked. "You just spouted a load of gobbledegook at us and then expect us to understand why we have fourteen days to find Hermione, Ginny and Pansy?"

Draco sighed in a frustrated manner. "You really are thicker that even I imagined. Fine I'll spell it out for you. Voldemort needs four virgins with specific powers to form some sort of coven so they can make a powerful weapon for him. He will need them intact and able to use their full power so they won't be tortured or anything. Brelnan's night always used to be celebrated on the last Sunday of August which is exactly two weeks away. It's too much of a coincidence to not be the same occasion."

Harry spoke up finally. "Why Virgins? And how have you linked this all with the girls, Ginny and Hermione haven't got any _magic powers_ - erm... other than the normal ones! You know what I mean! Anyway although Pansy has the ability to sense how much power a wizard has she's not exactly, erm chaste now is she?"

"And that's only three people." Ron added, wanting to make a contribution to the conversation.

Draco sighed again. "Ok, I guess I've got more of the facts than you guys and had a little longer to think about this. Firstly, why Virgins? Probably because in all the clichéd old stories a Virgin is pure so can be used as vessel to invoke demons, gods so on and so forth. Unfortunately I imagine most of the tales are based somewhat on truth. I'm guessing that whatever weapon Voldemort wants to summon needs four such people whose magic is pure and not tainted. I have no idea why it's always a female virgin, just throughout history that always seems to be the way." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Noticing that he had a captive audience Draco continued. "Secondly, Pansy is most certainly still a Virgin, despite her attire and attitude. She's extremely choosy over men and found all of the boys at school either too immature or not exciting enough for her and dumped them after a couple of dates. Of course after being ceremoniously dumped most of them made up stories about her being a slut but then she was never bothered by stuff like that. In fact she didn't want people to think she was so innocent. I'm guessing no-one could really compare to me but Pansy and I both knew that we would never work as a couple."

Harry scoffed and Draco raised an eyebrow daring him to disbelieve him. Harry quietened after recalling a time when he overhead a big group of girls at the Quiddich pitch discussing how they would all love to be seduced by Draco as he was one of the best looking boys at Hogwarts and was especially gorgeous in his Quiddich uniform.

Feeling slightly envious and hating himself for it Harry muttered. "Carry on."

Draco smirked and continued. "As to Ginny and Hermione having no special talent, well much as I hate to admit it but Hermione is extremely intelligent and picks spells up faster than anyone I know. Even faster than I could and I had the best home tutors available as I was growing up and they all commented on how skilled I was. Before you give me that look I'm not bragging, if I'd have done anything wrong they would have been the first ones to inform my father and I would certainly have known about it." He subconsciously rubbed his throat, thinking about the times his father had punished him with the whipping curse there.

"Anyway, she's better than even me and I know for a fact that she did better in most of her studies than the majority of teachers did when they were at school. You can't tell me that's normal. Even with the amount of studying she does, she's obviously got some sort of special talent."

Ron and Harry nodded, it made them both feel a little better that maybe they weren't quite so inadequate at studies and Hermione was just gifted.

"What about Ginny though?" Harry asked. Ron mumbled something Harry couldn't quite catch and Draco nodded. "What do you guys know that I don't?" he asked.

This time it was Ron that spoke up. "It's been a bit of a family secret for a while, although now Remus and Tonks know. There's some sort of family curse, or gift depending on how you look at it. All the Weasley girls are born with a form of powerful magic. There's only ever a girl born once in a blue moon but it's always been the same, right back as far as Dad's been able to trace."

"Plus she's a seventh child." Draco noted. Ron gawped. "I never even thought about that. I can't believe I'd overlook something like that."

Harry again looked between the two of them confused. Ron filled him in, "The number seven is like, a really significant number in the wizarding world. It's kind of so well known that no one really bothers to mention it I guess. Like erm, I know - the seventh son of a seventh son is meant to be more powerful than any of his brothers… Although that hardly ever happens anymore because people have less kids. I guess that's why there are loads of really powerful wizards in history and not so many now…" he trailed off as he realised he was rambling slightly.

"Very eloquent Weasley." Draco drawled. "Anyway, now that we've established Voldemort's evil plan, can we please get me a wand?"

"Wait." Harry said, still looking slightly perturbed. "I'm assuming that Voldemort has already, or is trying to, capture a fourth witch – I can figure that out for myself. But what I want to know is why you didn't mention this to anyone before? Did you not think it was important?"

Draco shrugged. "Voldemort is always coming up with one scheme or another. If you knew how many weird and wonderful ideas he has you would have spent your whole life constantly on edge. Out of all those plots only a handful have ever even come close to working and you've foiled all of those. Plus, you don't know my Aunt. If Bella says to her beloved Dark Lord that something isn't possible then it's not. She'd have tried everything in her power before letting him down. I guess she was wrong though."

Draco straightened up a little impatiently. "Now I've kept my part of the deal. Are you going to help me get in to Ollivander's or what?"

Harry felt that now he had a lot more information but also a lot more worries. So they knew that the girls would be kept alive for two weeks, but they weren't any closer to knowing where they were or how they were going to save them, just that Voldemort had a plan for them. He sighed heavily.

"Ok Malfoy, how exactly do you propose we get in then?"

* * *

**I really wanted to put "Voldemort is always hatching one harebrained scheme or another" when Draco was talking but felt it was a little too 'scooby-doo'!!!**


	39. Three out of Four

"Ok Malfoy, how exactly do you propose we get in then?"

* * *

Ginny awoke with a start. She tried to sit up but immediately felt a restrictive band of magic around her neck holding her firmly in place. In a panic she clawed desperately at the cold circle trying to rip it away from her throat but the more she struggled, the tighter it became until eventually the pressure choked her and she passed out...

* * *

Hermione's eyes flickered open gently. She felt nauseous and remembered something heavy hitting the back of her head. She tried to raise her hand to feel the lump she was sure would have formed, but instead felt a sharp pain all down her arm and hand. Forcing her highly developed brain to overcome the foggy feeling that was enveloping it she managed to focus on her surroundings. 

Peering around cautiously, she could just make out that her new abode consisted of a very small stone cell with no windows. Rather than coming from a direct source, the light - a sickly red glow - just seemed to permeate from the walls. There was an outline of a door on the far wall but the brunette couldn't see any sort of handle or opening from where she lay.

Instead of sitting up she angled her head slightly and looked down at her arm to see why it had hurt her. She gave a small cry of fear when she saw the cause of her pain; surrounding both of her arms and legs were medieval torture devices that had been altered with magic. Big iron bands ran in circles down her appendages, Hermione knew that traditionally they would have had crude metal spikes attached to them which could be cruelly screwed into the victims flesh. Instead she could see shining blue pulses of magic which must have been the cause of the pain she had felt earlier.

Tentatively she wiggled her fingers; nothing happened so she tried flexing her wrist. When she did so a slight prickling sensation ran across her skin causing her flesh to goose bump and the blue waves of magic rearranged themselves into needle like lines. Hermione stopped before the feeling turned from being uncomfortable to painful.

Laying her head back on the hard stone of the slab she had been restricted to, Hermione concentrated to try and remember anything from before she was struck. She could remember making her way to the library vigilantly and was sure that no one had been following her. Wracking her brains Hermione suddenly remembered what had happened…

She was just around the corner from the library and maybe being so close to her destination had presented a false sense of security; Hermione could still picture the tiny house elf that had run past her and into a small side street while squealing like it was in pain.

Hermione cringed with shame as she remembered how she had gullibly followed the poor creature to make sure it was ok; she had heard a noise from behind her which had immediately told her senses that she had done the wrong thing, but before she could turn around or run she had felt a heavy blow to her skull.

Trying very hard to keep her fear in check, the bushy haired witch went over every minute detail of that trip and tried to figure out exactly who would have attacked her and why.

* * *

Pansy had been conscious for several minutes now but she had learned many years ago that in situations where you awake in an unknown place, it wasn't necessarily a good idea to announce your consciousness to those around you. 

She forced herself to breathe as if she were still asleep and listened to find out if she could hear anything which might be useful. After several moments she was rewarded…

"Surely she should be awakening soon my Lord? Can't I just speed up the process slightly?"

Pansy recognised the voice immediately; it was Rodolphus Lestrange who had always seemed to have an unnatural preoccupation with Pansy. She felt a clammy hand on her ankle and it took all her will power not to kick out when his fingers started to trail slowly up her calf.

"Rodolphus." Came a low hissing voice. Pansy knew that he was stubbornly stupid sometimes but even Rodolphus couldn't miss the warning tone with which he had been addressed.

"Yes my Lord?" he replied in a wheedling tone removing his hand quickly from her leg.

"Do you not have other matters that you should be attending to?"

"Of course my Lord. I merely thought that since I was able to lure the girl out you may have wanted me to assist in-" His sentence ended in a strangled noise which sounded to Pansy as if he had been choked somehow.

"Do not presume to know what I want you to do at any given time unless you have strict instructions from me. And do not try to take credit for Bella's ingeniousness. Once I am done with these specimens then Bella may do what she wishes with them; you should consider yourself lucky if she shares her victims Rodolphus."

There was another noise which Pansy could only assume was Voldemort releasing Lestrange from his chokehold as he hissed angrily. "You may go."

The sound of a door opening and closing was followed by a quiet, "I know you are awake Pansy. You may as well stop pretending."

Pansy knew better than to irritate the Dark Lord so she opened her eyes, sat up and turned so she was facing him. As she did so she registered numbly that one of her ankles had been shackled to the wall by a long chain. Voldemort was sitting with his back to Pansy in an oversized throne like chair.

The room that she was in was richly decorated with tapestries and expensive but old looking furniture. Pansy guessed that she had been taken to a very prestigious manor house, possibly even a small castle.

"Where have you been Pansy? My reports suggested to me that you were dead but that obviously isn't so."

"No my lord." Pansy replied meekly.

Voldemort turned to look at her and despite her best efforts Pansy had to cast her eyes down to the floor. He looked even viler that she had remembered, his eyes were the only alive thing in a face that looked like it had died many years prior. His nostrils were mere slits in his face and where his lips should have been was a lumpy mess of flesh. But those eyes; Pansy would never forget his eyes for the rest of her life, the pupils were slits like a cat's, but burning with some kind of fervour; bright piercing red.

The sheer waves of power radiating from Voldemort was almost nauseating for Pansy. Each person's power felt different to her and Voldemort's was foul; it brought to mind death and decay even though she knew these were the things the dark wizard feared most.

"I need you to tell me where you have been; I need to know how it is that you were able to fake your death so convincingly that my best informants were fooled."

Pansy looked at him in fear. "It wasn't my fault my Lord... They took me."

Voldemort showed no emotion, "Indeed," he responded in a quiet tone. "Who might _they_ be?"

"I don't know who they were but they said that they were working for the Order. They kept me locked up." Pansy improvised wildly.

"If only I could believe you my child." Voldemort came close and took her face in his hand. If Pansy wasn't used to this sort of treatment she might almost think he was showing her kindness. But she knew better.

Bending down Voldemort whispered into her ear, "I don't believe you are telling me the truth at all my dear. So I have taken the liberty of asking my faithful servant to prepare some veritaserum... Snape." He called out the name loudly as he straightened up.

Pansy's heart was in her mouth as the door opened and a gaunt, angular figure stepped through the door. Dressed as ever in a flowing cape like robe, Severus Snape was as sallow and greasy looking as ever.

"You have the serum?" Voldemort asked without even turning to look at the doorway.

Snape stepped inside the room and closed the door slowly behind him. He looked at Pansy carefully while reaching into one of his deep pockets and pulled out a small vial. "Yes, my Lord." He said slowly still keeping his eyes on Pansy.

Anything was better to look at than Voldemort, so Pansy stared back at Snape and directed her anger at him. The wizard that so many of the students were sure was a vampire was surrounded with an extreme amount of power himself. Pansy had known throughout her entire school life that her head of house was an immensely skilled wizard and his power had been one of the first she had been able to sense. As ever his power seemed thick and syrupy to her as if he was surrounding himself with a protective field that people couldn't penetrate.

"I trust you will not need forcing to drink Parkinson." He drawled in a tone which reminded her painfully of Draco – Draco... she knew that she could not take the serum or else she would betray Draco's whereabouts. His death had been even more carefully planned that her own she knew. She had found notes in the Order's flat stating that the body of a Death Eater who had died in combat had been irreversibly changed by many spells to resemble the mangled corpse of Draco and left at the scene where Ginny had first found him.

Panicked, Pansy looked wildly around the room only to find her eyes drawn back to Snape's emotionless face.

His mouth opened and said, "You cannot resist us Parkinson, I would hate to see such a promising student become disloyal to our lord. Make this easy and just take the serum." Yet deep within her mind Pansy heard a very quiet yet urgent voice say. "Trust." It sounded just like the potions master.

Her eyes whipped up again to survey Snape's heavily hooded eyes but they were giving away nothing.

Voldemort had obviously waited long enough for an answer from her. He waved his hand dismissively at Snape, still without turning his back. "I will deal with her Severus – leave the vial on the side."

Again Pansy heard the voice whispering to her subconscious. "Trust. Drink."

"As you wish my Lord." Snape said obediently, turning to leave.

"Wait!" Pansy said. "I'll drink." Snape and Voldemort both turned to face the scrawny girl as she held her hand out for the vial. Snape looked to Voldemort who nodded his head, so the hook-nosed professor passed the vial to his former student.

Pansy nervously unstopped the little bottle and with a prayer to any of the gods that would listen to her upended the bottle and swallowed the potion. Immediately she felt the effects of the veritaserum take effect and she cursed herself for thinking Snape had been trying to help her.

"May I ask her the first question to prove the credibility of the potion?" Snape asked politely of Voldemort.

"As always Severus. I appreciate your desire to check your work."

Snape's question shocked Pansy. "Have you been with Harry Potter?" Unable to stop herself Pansy said clearly, "Yes." Her eyes widened in fear.

Voldemort nodded to Snape. "Perfect as ever Severus. Both the potion and your information gleaned from your connections to that buffoon Dumbledore." He turned to face Pansy.

"You see, Snape has always been my best informant. Although I was told of your death I believed it to be a lie. I cast a tracking spell upon you when you were in my service that admittedly did seem to be severed, however when the connection ended it felt wrong somehow. I was determined to have you back – I need you, your talent to be precise. I sent Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Snape to find you and they were more than worthy."

Voldemort pulled a small bound book from his robes and handed it to Snape. "Here, you have proven yourself loyal yet again. I am entrusting you with this. It is the procedure for summoning the weapon. I will be in the centre of the coven and need two trusted allies to perform certain parts of the ritual. Bella is of course my other choice. Now how long do I have until the serum runs out?"

Snape bowed low upon receiving the tome and replied. "Fifteen minutes my Lord. It may last longer as there is so little of her but I cannot guarantee it."

Voldemort nodded and turned to Pansy. "Did you run away from me willingly?" he asked menacingly.

Terrified Pansy opened her mouth expecting the answer to force its way out. Instead she felt her head clearing and the urge to explain fading. Her mouth opened and closed a few times and Voldemort sneered at her. "There is no point trying to fight it. You do not have the means to counteract the veritaserum."

Pansy realised that he thought she was trying to battle against the potion and took the advantage to think of a way to avoid the death she was certain was coming. After only a second's struggle she managed to say, "No. I was forced to leave your service."

The Dark Lord's face was so far from being human any more that Pansy couldn't be sure that the look upon it was shock but it was the closest emotion she could read from him.

"I see. How were you forced then?"

"Member's of the Order caught me trying to capture a witch that I had sensed. They choked me to make it seem like I was dead and then when I awoke I was locked in a room."

Voldemort seemed to believe her; he had no reason not to. Pansy's head now felt completely clear and she had no difficulty in lying to his next question.

"What information did you give them about me? And why was Harry Potter with you?"

"I hate to admit my Lord that they forced some information from me. I told them that I was searching for powerful witches and wizards to try and glean information from them. Other than that I do not know anything important to tell them. It is impossible for me to give away any information of your whereabouts. I told them that I was too unimportant for you to bother with. Potter was there in case I said anything useful that he would understand but there was nothing to tell."

Voldemort seemed amused by her last comment. "Fair enough. You are correct that you are not important enough to be given information. However you are going to prove very important to me in other ways. Who would have thought that I had sent you searching for power when you held it all along? All I need now is the fourth and I will have everything." He seemed to realise that he was speaking out loud.

"None of that matters to you though. Are you still loyal to me?"

Pansy nodded and lied, "Of course my Lord."

"Very well then. You may be of use with the other two."

* * *

**I originally was going to write this so that it seemed Pansy actually was going to go back to Voldemort's side but it just wasn't working out. So sorry it's not got the tense atmosphere I was hoping for but hopefully that will come in a few chapters anyway!**


	40. Inside Ollivander's

**I didn't have much time last night when I'd finished this chapter so I didn't add a note! **

**I wanted to say thanks to anyone who's been patient and stuck with me recently. I know I started off updating very regularly and thought I could carry on that way, but it turns out married life is a lot busier than I'd thought!**

**Plus my sister is expecting her first baby in less than 2 weeks! **

**Not only does that make family life busier but she's also my colleague at work so she's off on maternity leave (and we're not getting cover for her) so it looks like I won't be able to sneak some writing in at work now either!!**

**Anyway, I recently looked back on some old notes that I'd written and realised that there are a couple of things I need to work into the story pretty soon. There are some things that are left open at the end of HBP and while they aren't major plot lines in my story I feel that it wouldn't be right to leave them out. (RAB and the locket for example. I did originally have this penned in as something the golden trio would discover behind the scenes of the story and just give Ginny a vague explanation but now I feel I'd like to flesh it out a little more!)**

**I will also mention that things are likely to get a bit more folkloric (if that's the correct word!) in a way... I don't know how to describe it but hopefully it will be good! As Harry Potter is set in Britain (and I live there... handy for getting info!) I wanted to include some old English folklore in the background history of the story. **

**I know that a lot of what JK Rowling wrote had some basis in these sort of things (the three headed dog, the philosophers' stone itself, many of the character's names, the order or Merlin and so on...) so I wanted to continue in a similar ilk... I hope I do ok! **

* * *

"Very well then. You may be of use with the other two."

* * *

"Ok Malfoy, how exactly do you propose we get in then?" 

Draco paused, he realised that he hadn't really thought this through. This was Ginny's plan and he'd been against it from the start. Since she'd gone missing part of his brain had gone into overdrive and the rest of him had just followed along blindly. It was so unlike him to be unplanned that he was slightly shocked he'd come this far. Normally he planned everything well in advance, considering different actions to take for every possible outcome.

Improvising wildly he walked boldly down the dark alley, up to the surprisingly expensive looking back door and tried turning what looked like a pure gold handle. It didn't budge. "It's locked." He said in what he knew was an unconcerned voice.

"What a wonderful plan you had." Mocked Harry as sarcastically as he could manage.

"You have to check the simplest things first." Draco managed to keep a superior tone. "Imagine how foolish you would feel if, after trying spell upon spell you realised that you could just walk right in the back door. Always start with the easiest option and work from there."

"Well the easiest option didn't work. Since you reckon you're the expert, what's next?" Harry questioned, challenging Draco with a look.

"Alohomora?" Ron jumped in questioningly.

"Of course." Draco nodded in a way that suggested he was just about to propose that very thing himself. "You see Potter, think simple like your friend Weasley here. You could learn from him."

Ron started to grin at the praise but paused, wondering if Draco was calling him simple. Before he had the chance to voice his concern Draco had propelled him towards the door.

"Go on then Weasley, you do the honours."

Nervously Ron held out his wand and enunciated clearly, as Hermione had taught him. "Alohomora!" There was an audible click. "Hey, it worked... Look Harry, it worked!"

Harry nodded to Ron who was beaming foolishly. "Great work Ron."

Draco smiled disarmingly at Ron, who was too exhilarated at being the one to get them in to wonder why Draco was suddenly being so nice to him. _Anything to rile Potter_ Draco thought.

Draco swooped past Harry just as he was moving towards the handle and the blonde wizard felt a rush of triumph at beating his adversary to one golden sphere at least. It was childish he knew, but any victory counted.

He turned the handle cautiously and the door swung open silently. All three boys had secretly been expecting an eerie creak from the hinges. Relieved Draco took a step into the building and looked around warily, nothing but blackness met his eyes.

"Lumos." Harry's voice was a welcoming sound in the dark. The flare from his wand lit up all three boys' faces in strange angles and made the room around them seem to stretch away and the tall cabinets that lined the walls appear to loom over them ominously.

"Lumos Maxima." The light from Harry's wand increased noticeably making the room look slightly less creepy.

"Thanks." Draco muttered before he could stop himself. He groaned inwardly expecting the sarcastic reply that, in the Slytherin world, characteristically followed a slip up such as showing gratitude.

"No problem." Harry said, looking a little taken aback but giving his trademark toothy grin nonetheless.

Draco was pleasantly surprised at the lack of rudeness. He had been brought up in a world that traditionally mocked such weaknesses as thankfulness, showing emotions and especially love, but he was strangely pleased at Harry's reaction. Not that he would ever let anyone know so but his brain digested the emotional input anyway.

"Where next?" Asked Ron, craning to see through the gaps in the shelves surrounding the trio. Both he and Harry looked expectantly at Draco.

"Out front I guess, where all the boxes are – that's where you guys went for your wands right?" Draco asked.

"Yeah that's where I got mine." Harry said.

"That's where I got my second wand." Ron mumbled quietly.

"Second wand?" Draco questioned. "Oh of course. You broke your first one crashing into tree didn't you - your spells were going wrong all year!" He chuckled to himself remembering how Ron had tried to hex him with the slug-vomiting charm which had backfired.

Ron frowned and had just opened his mouth to protest when Draco asked – "So where did you get your first wand?"

Ron blushed and looked hesitant, he then pulled himself up to his full height and said a little louder than necessary "From my brother, it was passed down because we didn't have enough money at the time to get me both spell books and a new wand. Before you mock my _previously _poor situation I'd like to remind you that..."

Ronald held his hand up and grasped a finger with each point " One, I have a wand at my disposal and you don't. Two, my parents are much better off now and Three... Three, you're dating my sister so anything bad you say about my family includes her too and I get a free punch for that!"

Draco almost laughed, Ron was practically bristling with anger... "Wow Weasley, how long have you been saving that tirade up for? I didn't realise you took my words to heart so much." Draco knew that this would be the perfect moment to make a joke at Ron's expense but something made him stop, for a moment he felt sorry for the other boy.

"If it makes you feel better, my wand was inherited too, an antique from my Grandfather Cygnus. So I can't exactly mock that Can I?"

Ron looked absolutely bemused. Y.. You had a, a hand me down too?" He stuttered.

Draco did laugh then, an honest friendly laugh and he hated himself for it. How did these people who had had hated for most of his life suddenly, after a brief forced closeness, seem to burrow their way through his defences and unearth feelings and emotions he never knew he could admit to. No wonder his father had warned him away from them, thinking of his father made him even more angry.

"Not exactly Weasley," He countered. "My family passed down priceless items that were too valuable to be thrown away; yours passed on anything they couldn't afford to throw away, which was everything probably. There's a big difference."

Draco looked at the anger in Ron's eyes and for the first time could see the pain and protectiveness behind it. For once in his young life Draco felt remorse for mocking someone. Losing all hope of ever being himself again he sighed somewhat over dramatically.

"Yes Ronald, if it makes you feel better I, the great Draco Malfoy, had hand me downs."

Not waiting to see either boys' face, he stalked off into the shop's main room. Maintaining the authoritative presence only a Malfoy could truly pull off, he studied his surroundings.

Rows upon rows of massive wooden shelves ran around the room, all were heavily laden with stacks of small, oblong black boxes. Draco ran his hand lightly along one row, a pointless gesture. "How in Merlin's name am I ever meant to choose from all of these, especially without a shop assistant?" Draco said out loud without meaning to.

Harry and Ron, after giving each other shocked looks over his sudden changes in attitude, had followed him out onto the shop floor.

Harry spoke up, "Ollivander took my measurements and then brought me a selection of wands. I tried them all until one chose me." He blushed when the other two wizards looked at him questioningly but held his head high despite the blushing. "I know that sounds really dumb but Ollivander told me that it's the wand that should choose the wizard to get truly great performance. Ron, even you admitted that your second wand just felt like it fitted right in your hand when you got it."

Ron looked a little embarrassed but admitted, "You know he's right and it does work a lot better than my last one..."

"Right." Draco muttered unenthusiastically. "That's all well and good but how on earth am I meant to find a wand right for me, there must be thousands out there and we don't even know what my measurements are..."

Ron looked around him fruitlessly for a tape measure. Trying to think about things logically he suggested the only thing he could think of. "Maybe we should try one from each section and see which is best. Then we can try others from that section?" He looked to the other two for their reactions.

Harry nodded in a half hearted way and Draco shrugged one shoulder. "It's a plan I guess." He said.

Draco slowly started to pull a black box from the shelving section nearest him. When he wrapped his fingers round the box he felt a small resistance but after the initial tug the box came free.

He heard a noise like an outburst of breath; wondering if that meant that he had somehow picked the right wand first time he opened the box and grasped the uncovered wand firmly in his hand. Draco judged its weight in his palm and felt slightly disappointed in the look of the wand; it was short and knobbly and felt very uncomfortable, almost as if it were trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

"Draco?" Ron and Harry murmured in unison...

Draco looked at where the boys were facing and briefly turned his gaze back to the wand in his hand before whipping his head back to the unbelievable sight bearing down on him... Hundreds upon hundreds of the previously neatly stacked boxes were flying wildly off the shelves. They were falling open like shells and wands of all makes and sizes were pouring out of them and creating a humming noise that sounded far too similar to a horde of angry wasps for Draco's liking.

Ron ruffled his long red hair nervously. "Erm, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all..."

All three boys had backed soundlessly towards the furthest bookcase from where the wands were forming into a group.

"What now?" Ron asked.

"Run?" Harry suggested.

"Where to?" Was Draco's reply. The other two boys followed his nod towards the door where they had entered. It too was almost completely smothered with levitating wands, it felt as though they were aiming themselves at the only human inhabitants.

While trying to peer around the corner for another means of escape, Ron accidentally knocked against the shelf behind them. This shelf, instead of being covered with boxes happened to be full to the brim with what looked like receipts. He grabbed wildly at them, trying to prevent their downward tumble but instead made matters worse and sent tiny strips of paper cascading across the room.

"Look!" Harry cried, pointing behind Ron. The freckled wizard's mistake had unveiled a small metal ring set into the wall. It looked as if it was there for a purpose.

"What do you think it's for? Do you think it stops the wands?" Harry said loudly over the increasing noise.

"No." Draco cried. "It's a hidden handle, I've seen them like that before. There's something behind this shelf" He could barely hear himself speak; the clamouring buzzing sound of the wands was becoming unbearably loud.

"Quickly then." Harry shouted. All three boys began to plough through the piled of paper in a desperate race against the wasp like wands. Each of the young wizards was certain that their time was running short and they were trying not to imagine how painful a wand would feel when embedded in their flesh.

Just as Draco had bodily forced the shelves to one side and was reaching his hand out for the metal ring, the noise suddenly stopped. The silence was somehow deafening and in a way worse than the buzzing had been.

"Look out." Yelled Harry, who was at the back of the trio, he threw himself at the other two, knocking them all over painfully to the floor just in time. Three wands had that had been headed straight for them ploughed into the pile of receipts causing an eruption of paper into the air.

Draco, who had ended up at the bottom of the pile pushed the other two off him, for some reason the closeness of danger had put him in a strange humour. "I'm not really into all this kinky wrestling shit, I understand that I'm irresistible but I have to decline your advances."

Ron and Harry looked up at him gormlessly while he grinned to himself. Giving up on the sarcasm, which was obviously wasted on his current companions he grabbed their shoulders and roughly hoisted them up off the floor.

"Oh come on. They're getting ready to attack again."

He was right, glancing over they could see that three more wands had already separated from the pack and were aligning themselves towards the three teenagers.

Draco curled his finger around the metal circle, lifted it outwards and twisted it clockwise, a wrenching sound came from the wall and a door shaped slit appeared. Hurriedly the three pushed it open and piled through the gap. Harry pushed it closed behind them and it sealed so completely that if you didn't know to look you couldn't have spotted the door.

There were three loud thumps from the wall where the door had been; obviously the wands had been just behind them.

"Reminds me of our first year with those bloody flying keys!" Ron said, grinning broadly despite being completely white in the face and shaking slightly.

"Yeah." Harry smiled a wry smile and slapped him lightly on the back. He remembered what had happened shortly after that. Ron had been knocked unconscious in a life sized chess game and he'd had his first encounter with Voldemort. They were a lot older and slightly wiser now; however the enemy was a lot more powerful than when he was eleven.

They were standing in a narrow room, there was barely enough room for the three of them and they were crowded together uncomfortably. The only immediate exit that they could see was a dark and gloomy looking set of spiral stairs that went down at a steep angle. None of them particularly wanted to find out where they led.

"I guess it's down we go then? It's got to be better than what's back there right?" Draco said.

Harry nodded his agreement warily. He was very unsure about going further.

They stood uncertainly for a moment before Ron had enough. "Oh come on – I'll go first. You can back me up." He set off down the stairs while Draco and Harry stood still, slightly shocked at his decisiveness.

Ron paused on the fifth step down, half his body already hidden from them. "Are you two coming or what?" He asked.

Spurred into action, Harry rushed to catch up with his best friend. Draco followed with slightly more refinement.

They weren't walking for very long before Ron paused, Harry nearly crashed into the back of him, Draco tutted at his clumsiness.

Ron held up a finger to his mouth and whispered quietly, "Did you hear that?" Draco shook his head but Ron held up his hand signalling them to come further down to listen. After only a second he was rewarded. A man's voice echoed pitifully up the stairs.

"Hello? Is there someone there? Who's there? Anyone... Help me. Please..."


	41. Prisoners

**It's going to be a long chapter!!! I hope you're ready lol! **

**I have to give a brief – actually a long explanation for some of this chapter... **

**I know it's been a while since I started this story and wanted to reiterate that the house that Draco and Ginny were in wasn't No. 12 Grimmauld place but another safe house. At the time of starting this story, I had read that JK Rowling had stated the following (not in her own words!) **

**_Dumbledore was the secret Keeper of Grimmauld Place, now with Dumbledore dead the secret could no longer be passed on. So while all the people Dumbledore had led to the house could still go in and were aware of its existence – they couldn't pass the information on to anyone new... Just as they couldn't before he was dead. So once all the remaining people who knew about the house died, it could never be found by anyone._**

**Oooh, I found the quote "**with the death of Dumbledore (the secret keeper), the secret keeps the same properties it had when he died: those who knew will continue to know, and those who didn't know will not find out about it."

**Now in the last book she has obviously changed her mind about that and anyone that knew about the house now becomes a secret keeper themselves and can take others there... But I already had my story planned out so they weren't at No. 12 as Draco wouldn't have been able to get in. **

**Some of Ginny's plot in this chapter might have seemed a bit wrong if you thought they were at Grimmauld!**

**On a separate note, there's a bit of an unpleasant spell described a bit later on when the explanation for Voldemort finding the girls happens. I don't think it's too bad but I wanted to give a little warning in case any of you are easily grossed out!**

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"Very well then. You may be of use with the other two."...

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Pansy brushed her fingers repeatedly over the beautiful mosaics that covered the table where she sat, nervously wondering what was in store for her. Who were these others and how was she meant to help with them? She knew for certain that she didn't have it in her to physically harm an innocent human being.

Pansy hung her head, she wasn't a saint; probably not even a very nice person when it came down to it – but to actually cause someone pain with her own hands? Someone who had done nothing to her... No, she couldn't do it; she hated herself enough for helping Voldemort to capture people who were undoubtedly tortured – or worse.

A thought crossed her mind, causing a shiver of horror to run down her spine. She knew how Voldemort worked; he could make people do things. Faced with her own demise, who knew what she was capable of, and if, miraculously, she was somehow strong enough to say no even when threatened with death then Voldemort would most likely just Imperious her and she would have to carry out his foul deeds anyway.

Just as Pansy was about to bury her head in her hands and despair, she heard the door opening. In her fear she nearly threw herself under the table to hide, but she knew that would be a fruitless exercise. She could hardly escape from her shackles that bound her ankle to the wall, and even if she could –her only escape other than the door was a window which led to a large plummet onto some very sharp and pointy rocks.

Deciding to face the visitor, Pansy stood up tall and smoothed out her clothes. The door opened fully and in walked Snape.

Pansy breathed a sigh of mild relief; at least she didn't have to face Voldemort again. She doubted that she could carry out a very convincing act with him.

Snape looked far from happy, but this being more or less a permanent look for the Potions Master, didn't necessarily mean something horrific was about to happen.

He nodded curtly to Pansy and removed a large shiny key from his voluminous robes. Looking at it with distaste – Snape preferred to keep a certain atmosphere around things like this, keys should always be rusty and doors should always squeak – he bent down and unlocked the chain which was attached to the wall. It ran easily through the cuff which remained on Pansy's ankle.

"You will follow me now. I need to perform some tests." He told her brusquely, not looking at her.

"S-Sir?" Pansy asked cautiously, "What did you do to the Veritaserum?" She had been wondering since the moment Snape and Voldemort had left her, what had happened to make the potion wear off so quickly.

Snape raised both of his eyebrows and studied Pansy for a second. "If you are referring to the strength of the potion then yes, I did make it rather stronger than normal to ensure answers were forthcoming for the Dark Lord. I am surprised you could tell." He stared at her harder then, as if willing her to give a different answer.

Pansy stood stock still for a moment, her mind racing furiously. What if Snape hadn't messed with the potion and she'd just over come it somehow, unlikely as that seemed. Maybe by making the potion stronger Snape had messed up the serum... impossible – Snape was a master in Potions and a perfectionist.

_I heard a voice_, Pansy thought. _It sounded like Snape but what if I was wrong, what if someone else somehow managed to invalidate the potion and is helping me_. There were several doubts in her mind and if Snape hadn't helped her then she couldn't let him suspect that the potion hadn't worked or he'd run straight to Voldemort.

"Yes sir," she said, decided. "That's what I meant – I've had the serum before and thought it tasted different..."

Snape nodded once and then suddenly reached out to grab her arm above the elbow. Pansy expected his grip to be painfully firm but he was surprisingly gentle with her; however his hands were as cold as she had imagined they would be. The hook nosed professor opened a draw in the base of the table that Pansy hadn't previously noticed, and pulled out a heavy black cloak.

"Come then, it is cold where we are going." He murmured, throwing the cloak adeptly round her shoulders with one hand.

Walking quickly, Snape led Pansy out of the room and down one twisting corridor after another. Pansy tried to keep track of the route they were taking but soon lost her way. She wondered briefly if they were doubling back as she could swear she recognised some of the building but it was so difficult to tell. What she did know was that whenever they came across a stairwell they travelled further and further down.

* * *

Ginny had discovered, after several painful attempts, that if she moved very slowly and carefully, she could lie on her side without activating the band around her neck. So she had adopted a foetal position, her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped round them - It was a position she had used many time during her first year at Hogwarts.

She was in trouble, she knew that much; but at least at the moment she was only a physical prisoner and not a mental one. Ginny hoped that wasn't going to change soon. Banging her fist once against the wall, she cursed herself for being so stupid and winding up in this situation.

It had been a very convincing ruse, but she shouldn't have fallen for it. She closed her eyes and remembered what had happened. _She was downstairs getting food ready and heard a large crash from outside. Looking out of the window, what she had seen had caused the colour to drain from her face..._

_The road that the safe house was situated on looked out onto a very quiet back road where there was never much traffic. However, instead of an empty road, what Ginny saw now were two cars that had collided with each other at what looked like very high speeds, and two pedestrians lying a few feet away from the cars looking broken and bloodied. Two very distinctive, red haired pedestrians._

_Ginny knew that she shouldn't have thrown open the door and sped towards the road, ignoring the door closing behind her. She knew that it was very unlikely that her parents would be walking to the house, in plain sight but none of those thoughts registered in her brain at that moment. All she could see was that her parents were hurt and lying close to two cars, one of which was on fire and likely to cause more damage very soon. The overriding thought in Ginny's brain was driving her forwards to help her parents._

_Of course, the second she came close to the bodies she knew something was wrong – both figures were changing, their skin bubbling and hair changing colour. She noticed then that there was no smell of smoke or any broken glass, despite the cars on the road being irreparably damaged._

_She'd been tricked, as soon as the thought hit her mind Ginny turned to run back to the house but something else hit her first. The last thing Ginny saw before she collapsed to the floor was a dark red smoke from a recent spell surrounding her and shoes shuffling towards her..._

A door that she hadn't previously noticed opened silently breaking her thoughts and a short fat man entered with a try of food balanced on one hand. Ginny noticed immediately that he had a facial tic; he twitched his nose almost like a rabbit. She wondered if it was because he was nervous and if she could use that to her advantage.

"Don't try anything." The man said in a wheezy needy voice. "I'm stronger than you think and I have permission to restrain you if you try anything... The Dark Lord has made me strong." He seemed to be talking to himself at the end.

Ginny decided that if she was civil then she might see if he was bluffing. He certainly didn't look capable of restraining anyone larger than a small child to her – he looked cowardly and weak.

"What's your name?" She asked him in a tone that, while not exactly nice, hid the disgust Ginny felt at having to be polite to her captor.

Shocked, the man rapidly blinked his small watery eyes several times before answering. "I- I'm Peter. Not that I have to answer your questions you know..." He added somewhat hurriedly and forcefully, wrinkling up his nose and baring crooked yellowing teeth.

Ginny's brains whirled and as if to confirm the thoughts forming, Peter put down the tray that he had been carrying to reveal a shimmering silver hand. He turned to leave muttering darkly to himself; Ginny noticed then that the shuffling feet she had seen before passing out and being captured belonged to this man.

"Peter Pettigrew!" She exclaimed. Ginny then realised that his almost constant nose-twitching wasn't like a rabbit but a rat. "Wormtail."

He turned back to face her and nodded. "Clever aren't you. I didn't know if you'd recognise me but I guess your brother told you all about what happened to his loyal pet." He sniffed loudly.

Ginny wanted to let him know exactly what she thought of his loyalty but bit her tongue. She wanted to try and get some information and shouting or mocking this pitiful excuse for a man would get her nowhere.

"He didn't tell me outright, but I've got good hearing and my brother isn't exactly the best secret keeper going."

Wormtail flinched slightly when Ginny said secret keeper. "That makes two of us." He said, pulling a face that could have been a grimace or a smirk. "Yes, I remember you being a curious girl, several times I saw you listening to those three. Your brother and those friends of his."

Ginny was slightly revolted at the thought of this rodent like man watching her through his rat's eyes while she was completely oblivious of his presence. Unconsciously she pulled her clothes around her the best she could while lying down. She felt terribly defenceless being stuck on the slab; Wormtail seemed not to notice. In fact he seemed thrilled to have a captive audience and was keen to talk.

"Nice times they were in a way. Fed well, warm place to sleep, no worries… Until the end that is…" He hissed air through his teeth in an angry way which sounded to Ginny like 'Sirius'.

"Shame." He muttered.

"What is a shame?" Ginny asked, wondering if he was regretting the choices he made which forced him from his comfort. _Maybe he'll realise he's on the wrong side and help me escape?_ She thought.

"Hmm?" Wormtail seemed momentarily distracted. "Oh, it's a shame that your brother didn't understand the right choice. Too much time spent with that meddlesome Potter boy. Just like Sirius and James that one is. No, if young Ron could have just seen that there's no way one young boy can defeat the Dark Lord for good, not now he has his full power – and more… "

The balding animagus sighed. "He was a good master your brother, we could have found a place for him I'm sure. But he's a fool- like Remus was – too attached to his friends to listen to sense."

Wormtail started muttering to himself. "Friends do you no good you know. They say they want to help you but when you suggest that _maybe_ they aren't making the right choices they just won't listen. They won't… I told them that the order couldn't protect anyone…"

Desperate to stop his rant, Ginny asked, "How did you find me?"

Suddenly aware again of his surroundings, Wormtail straightened up. His beady eyes flicked around the room nervously "There's no harm in telling you I suppose. It's not as if you've got anyone to tell, or as if it matters now!" He gave a hissing laugh which chilled Ginny; any possible pity she could have felt for him had been lost in that instance.

"We have many spies; some willing – others not. Your father took his yearly leave at the same time as an awful lot of Aurors, people we know are in that silly order and other people suspected of being blood traitors. Silly ministry writes everything down; it's so easy for us to see what's happening… So we watched them all leave, although we couldn't find out where… Anyway, we knew you would be all alone – no family to protect you. It was our chance." He laughed his creepy laugh again.

Ginny shook her head in confusion. She found it hard to follow Wormtail's babbling speech. "But why capture me; I'm nobody special? And how did you find me anyway - No one outside of the order should have been able to see or sense the house, let alone know who was in it…"

Wormtail clapped his hands gleefully and sang out like a child, "My master found it! The Lord's wisdom is immense… Bellatrix LeStrange herself said they couldn't be found – she was wrong."

His face contorted at the mention of her name, Ginny heard him mutter under his breath 'Still he favours her-'

"What did he find?" Ginny probed; interested as to how Voldemort had found a way to beat the best spells the Order had to offer.

Wormtail had been hunched over scowling nastily; when Ginny spoke he seemed to come out of his stupor_. Ron said he was a cowardly idiot but he never once mentioned him being totally deranged,_ Ginny thought.

"Entrails-" Wormtail announced loudly. "Witches and some Wizards of old used to be able to cast spells upon dead people's intestines and they would form patterns which would give the answers to their questions. The Dark Lord searched long and hard for anyone still skilled in the arts; eventually he found one woman and she taught him everything she knew. He has more power in one finger than she had in her entire body."

Ginny had noticed that whenever Wormtail talked about Voldemort, he cradled his silver hand. She couldn't quite make out whether he was holding it in a loving way or if it was causing him pain…

He continued, "Lord Voldemort was able to take the art to a new level. With his new knowledge from the book, he could cast spells upon a whole body, not just their innards! He cast spell after spell and finally he managed to master the magic; after many attempts he was at last able to get the cadaver to reveal the knowledge of the dead…"

Wormtail squirmed slightly, if it was possible he looked disgusted and yet enthralled at the same time.

"Great welts and gashes appeared in the waxy flesh; blood that should have been long gone sprung anew and formed rivers in the cuts… After a short moment the wounds started to spread and run together and a name seemed to appear as if written on the dead person's chest. 'Hermione' was what it said…"

Unable to help herself, Ginny gasped aloud. Wormtail didn't notice and continued.

"Once my Lord had this information, he cast yet another spell, much harder than the last. The corpse flew into the air and yet more cuts were gouged into it, this time the back was awash with blood. Lord Voldemort cried his final word of the spell and the body fell back to the floor. Even I could see that what was left of the skin looked like a map. It was if it had been flayed there by a whip; but it was so intricate – there was a small dot on the map which somehow seemed to be slowly pulsing and moving its way round the area. That is when my Lord realised this was the location he could find the girl Hermione in.

Three more bodies he desecrated; three more times he performed the spell and three more names he saw. Pansy was the second, Ginevra – You were the third; fourth…"

"Fourth?" Ginny questioned when he paused, now truly curious to know the rest of the gory tale.

Wormtail hung his head and seemed deflated somehow. "My master sent me away before the fourth name was revealed. He has not mentioned it since."

Ginny let out a huge breath in frustration. Suddenly the door opened and through the gap Ginny could just make out a cloaked figure.

The figure spoke, "Pettigrew. Why are you still here? You were meant to deliver this food twenty minutes ago. It's lucky for you that I happened to be allocated the task of checking the girls and not one of the others..."

Ginny thought she recognised the man's voice; it was educated but so full of disdain. She tried to place it as he continued talking to the now grovelling Wormtail who was clinging to the bottom of the man's cloak and murmuring words of gratitude.

The man pushed Wormtail away from him. "Get off me; I don't want your slobbering thanks. I will however expect payback for not reporting you to the Dark Lord. Get out of my sight."

Wormtail gabbled the words "thank you" over and over again while bobbing and bowing like a servant before turning and practically running from the cell. The shadowed figure turned back to the corridor for a moment and Ginny could vaguely hear him talking to someone. She wanted to crane her neck to see more but she had already tested the pain threshold of her 'necklace' several times and knew it was a pointless idea.

A short moment later the shadowy figure returned to the room and bent to pick up the tray that Wormtail had left. When he stood to walk towards Ginny, the dull light washed over him and his face became visible for the first time.

"Professor Snape?" Ginny gasped in shock, it took a moment for the realisation of what was happening sunk in.

"Murderer." She spat the word out before she could stop to wonder if antagonising her jailer was such a good idea.

Snape's face changed the second that the word left her mouth. Before he had seemed calm and purposeful but in an instant his demeanour had changed entirely.

"A murderer I may be -" he snarled at her furiously, "but you know nothing of anything and have no right to judge me."

He slammed the tray down hard beside her head, his eyes flashing dangerously. Ginny cowered slightly as he paced to the cell door and pushed it closed slightly. She could see him clenching his fists. He intoned an incantation that Ginny had never heard and she felt the band around her neck disappear.

Snape stood with back to her still and said in an emotionless voice. "You may sit up now, the restraint will return in an hour. Don't bother trying anything stupid. The door is warded so you cannot pass until it is time to."

Ginny warily pushed herself into a sitting position; she eyed the food hungrily. It was a good meal even by her standards. She had been expecting nothing more than bread and water but the food in front of her was suspiciously appetising – even though it had gone cold.

"What's this?" she asked Snape testily, pointing at the plate.

He turned and stared at her coolly. "I didn't realise that your capture had caused your brain to become addled. It's food; I suggest you eat it."

Ginny glared at him, her anger growing. She snapped back, "Its not exactly standard issue prison food is it? Is it meant to be my last meal or something?"

Snape sneered at her, a look that reminded her painfully of Draco. "I wasn't aware you were an expert on how prisoners were to be cared for. Somehow I don't think that the Dark Lord would appreciate an owl on the matter. He has plans for you which require you to be in peak condition both physically and mentally. You _will_ eat the food which you are given; even if someone has to force you." He concentrated on her plate momentarily and steam started to rise from the food, sending a delicious aroma wafting round the cell.

"I will return later to perform some tests. If you have not eaten then there will be consequences." Snape swept from the room majestically, the door closing firmly behind him.

Ginny leapt across the room on shaky legs to see if she could prise the door open but the gap was too small to even fit her fingernails in and there was no handle or even a grill she could hold on to. It was obvious now why she hadn't noticed the door before Wormtail had entered, it sealed so that the join was barely visible.

Ginny sank down to the floor in despair. She buried her head in her hands, causing her hair to tumble down over her face, and let out a sob of anguish. What plans did her worst nightmare have for her? Could he feel and see what Tom Riddle had experienced? If he did then he knew all about the chamber of secrets, was that why he had chosen her again? She gritted her teeth hard together and fought against the flood of questions rushing through her brain.

If he did know then maybe he was annoyed that she hadn't finished the work he had planned for her, although Voldemort didn't need Ginny's body to occupy as Tom had so maybe he was just seeking revenge. Ginny wanted to know that she could defend herself better than before but had a sneaking suspicion that Voldemort would be able to worm his way into her mind just as easily as his memory had.

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Hermione finished the last morsel of her meal and neatly laid her knife and fork down on the fine china plate. Being the sort of person she was, Hermione had decided that if there was to be even the remotest chance of escape she might as well be well fed and at her best rather than dizzy from hunger. She hadn't been able to get a lot from the ugly looking Death Eater who had delivered her dinner other than the information that her bonds were to be removed until further notice and that someone would be along to see her later to perform a test of some kind.

Hermione stood and stretched her cramping limbs, staying in the same position for so long wasn't comfortable. She walked round the room seemingly just to stretch her legs but her sharp eyes were carefully examining everything.

At the very back or the room, in a dark recess that looked like it had once been an old fireplace, Hermione noticed an intricately carved man's face. It looked as if the man had ivy instead of hair and flowers were entwined in his beard. The man somehow reminded Hermione of Hagrid so much that without thinking she reached out to touch the carving as if reaching for a symbol of hope.

As soon as her fingers brushed the stone picture, Hermione heard what sounded like a contended sigh. She jumped back as the stones started to shake and crumble; tiny green shoots that blossomed into tendrils of ivy, vines and other plants forced their way through the mortar and bricks. They continued upon their destructive course until a small archway had formed where the fireplace had previously been.

After a moment's hesitation, Hermione tentatively crept forward into the space beyond the cell...


	42. Below the wands

**Hello all. Firstly I'd like to apologise for such a long delay in my update. I do have several reasons including family health problems… but they'd probably bore you as really (I hope) you just want to get on with the story. **

**I have struggled with this chapter purely because I've been having big breaks between writing bits so sorry if the style seems to change or it doesn't flow quite right... **

**Hopefully I'll be a bit quicker with the next chapter (I'm sure you're eager to know about Hermione's story) but currently I've lost the notes which is very frustrating as I had a moment of clarity and wrote some good stuff. If I really can't find them then I'll have to start again and hope I can do as well but I'll have a bit of a sulk first!**

**I have however managed to write bullet points for the next few chapters so hopefully they should all be a little sooner... **

**I hope you enjoy. **

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"Hello? Is there someone there? Who's there? Anyone... Help me. Please..."

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Draco could see the look on Ron's face and although Harry had his back to him, Draco could almost guarantee he looked the same way. _Bloody Gryffindors_, he thought. _Always wanting to be heroes…_

"Wait and be quiet." He commanded in a half whisper, talking to the boys in a tone to be used on a couple of disobedient dogs. Grabbing the back of their clothes he half dragged them back up the stairs to the cramped room.

Harry and Ron both stared at him with shocked faces. "Someone's in trouble, we have to help them." Harry said, a little too loudly for Draco's liking. Harry looked truly stunned and a little disgusted with what he assumed was a display of gross cowardice from Draco.

"Idiot!" Draco hissed at him. "What if it's a trap? I know you checked and there was no-one around but what if all those wands set off an alarm somehow and alerted someone?"

Ron looked around them with saucer eyes, he stared at the walls as if he was expecting people to burst through them and start attacking. If Draco hadn't been worried about pretty much the same thing he would have laughed at the foolish look on Ron's face.

"We should have been more careful." Harry murmured, quietly at least, while crossing his arms. "I knew this was a bad idea."

It was obvious that Harry was blaming Draco for bringing them here; which put Draco's back up immediately. He poked Harry in the chest with one long pale finger. "I did plan on us entering in a more secure way but _you_ said no one was anywhere near the place. Plus even if we were invisible I bet those wands would have known we were here and attacked us anyway."

Harry shrugged one shoulder and pulled a face of disbelief. "Maybe, but I doubt it."

"By Merlin's old and wrinkly pants… Whoever's fault it was, this isn't helping." Ron intervened. "So unless one of you thought to bring a portkey, we're still stuck and have nowhere to go _but_ down those stairs. Unless you'd rather sit here until we starve Malfoy? Plus, what if it isn't a trap and someone really does need help?"

Draco shook his head in almost-mock despair. "We could Apparate out."

Ron flushed slightly but stood his ground. "I'm not going to leave if that person needs help."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Neither am I, and seeing as you don't have a wand I guess you've got to wait until we'll get you out."

Draco scowled. "I never said _not_ to go downstairs. I just said to wait until we had some sort of plan instead of running blindly down the stairs. Honestly, do I have to think of everything? Potter get your invisibility cloak out, we can sneak down the stairs and check out whatever's going on down there without being seen."

It was Harry's turn to shake his head. "No good Malfoy. The cloak will barely cover Ron and me. There's no way it will hide all three of us."

Draco smirked at Harry and pulled his own shrunken bag from his pocket. "Good thing I brought my own then isn't it?" he said smugly as he summoned the cloak from his bag.

While Ron looked slightly bemused and a little in awe, Harry looked as though he might faint. "Where – how?" He spluttered. Frantically he checked for his own cloak and calmed slightly when he realised it was still in his possession.

"I thought it was unique?" Harry asked Ron slightly accusingly.

"I said it was really rare, not the only one." Ron replied in his defence.

"But Hermione did all that research for me, she said that there were other, inferior invisibility cloaks but none even close to mine. _That _one -" Harry said while pointing towards Draco in a condemning manner, "looks _identical_. Where'd you get it Malfoy?"

Somewhere deep inside Draco's head there was a voice telling him he should show some remorse about having such a wondrous item that was once owned by the man he tried to kill. But he was angry at Harry for so easily thinking that he had stolen his cloak. So, as he had done for most of his life, Draco forced the voice to the part of his brain where he could lock it away and silence it.

"Dumbledore." He drawled nonchalantly.

The still raw grief Harry felt over the loss of his mentor showed plainly on his face for a brief second before his eyes narrowed. "What - did you steal it while you were plotting to kill him then?" He growled dangerously.

Ron looked a little taken aback at Harry's sudden revert to anger. He had thought that Harry had decided not long after the funeral that he didn't really blame Draco for Dumbledore's death; in fact Harry had seemed to pity his old enemy in a way. But now Harry seemed to have as much hatred for Malfoy as he had in their first few years at school.

"Mate?" Ron asked Harry gently.

Draco merely sneered at Harry contemptuously, "Back to your normal self, eh _Potter_?" Only Draco could manage to make that name sound as if it was something that had crawled from under a stone. "Can't handle the fact that maybe you aren't so special after all?"

Ron watched in dread as Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Draco; he reached a freckled hand out to try and calm his old friend but Harry pushed it away forcefully. "Oh for Merlin's sake, I've had enough of this troll-shit." Ron said, finally having lost his temper. He snatched the cloak from Harry's unsuspecting hand and threw it over himself, disappearing completely as he ran towards the stairs.

Harry stood open mouthed and rooted to the spot but Draco let out a small chuckle and smiled to himself. "Well _mate_, looks like you're on your own." The Slytherin smirked as he started to pull the remaining cloak round his shoulders.

"Wait!" Harry cried angrily. "Don't be a prat Malfoy. I'm coming with you."

"Oh, I don't think so Potter. Besides, weren't you saying just a minute ago how much of a bad character I was? I'm obviously not the sort of trustworthy person you'd want to be around." Draco said mockingly, enjoying having the upper hand immensely.

Harry clenched his hands into fists but took a deep breath and said desperately, through only _slightly_ gritted teeth. "Look, I… I'm – I'm _sorry_, Ok. Dumbledore meant a lot to me and you just don't seem to care. I've lost almost everyone important to me… I can't let Ron go off on his own…"

Draco looked at him imperiously and said. "He won't be on his own though, I'll be there too."

Despite feeling a twinge of guilt over Draco's earlier, truthful accusation, Harry just couldn't imagine trusting his best friend safety with Draco Malfoy. He and Ron had always been there for each other – well, apart from the odd misunderstanding… He swallowed his pride and looked Draco in the eyes… "Please Mal- Draco. I need to go after Ron, Help me out here? Please?"

Draco waited slightly longer than he knew would be comfortable for Harry and just as the other boy was about to speak again he said. "Ok…"

Harry grinned widely with relief and stepped quickly towards Draco but was blocked by the pale boy's hand pressing firmly against his shoulder.

Draco had a sly look on his face as he said "Not so fast… You owe me for this right?"

Harry really didn't like the twinkle in Draco's grey eyes but sighed and asked, "Fine tell me then… What do you want?"

Draco smirked. "Ah, it's not as easy as that. Let's just say that you owe me one favour, of my choice, when I choose."

Harry frowned at all the horrible things he thought Draco could ask of him. "I won't do anything bad." He stated.

Draco scoffed. "Now by the word 'bad', I take it that your definition doesn't include things like, oh… breaking into the restricted areas of school or crashing flying cars in the grounds? Nothing like maybe stealing ingredients to make illegal potions or cheating in classes with someone else's notes, no? How about slashing a student half to death because you fancy seeing what a spell does… None of those would come under your heading of 'bad' then?"

Harry briefly considered trying to explain his actions to Malfoy but figured he'd be fighting a losing battle. "Fine… You can't ask me to hurt someone or do something truly evil to anyone. Ridicule me, ask me to do menial tasks or whatever, but I won't do anything that I consider is at someone else's expense."

Draco mulled this over for a little while; he could see Harry getting more and more agitated the longer he waited. Finally he held out his hand. "Deal"

They shook and Draco held out part of the cloak towards Harry. "Do try not to touch me though Potter…" he drawled as they started down the stairs.

* * *

Ron had made his way quickly down the stairs, muttering quietly to himself about how stupid people could be sometimes. He was, of course, careful to overlook all the times that he'd argued with people and taken offence at other's comments.

Now that he was at the bottom he took a moment to take in his surroundings; he was in a very long thin room which was obviously the wand maker's workshop, it stretched for what seemed like miles. There didn't appear to be the owner of the mystery voice down here though, and Ron couldn't see any doors that would lead elsewhere; he decided to carry on looking in case he'd missed something.

Protruding from the walls here and there were very realistic looking sculpted stone hands, all of which were clutching wands. The end of each wand emanated a dull light which gave the room a sickly pulsating glow as if the room were lit by poisoned fireflies.

There were several old and rickety tables; one of them was covered with scraps of parchment, scribbled all over them were sketches and annotations on wands. Ron looked through some of them; he noticed that there were several notes made in a spidery writing which mentioned re-examining old cores and some about controlling instability. There were also several maps, all with circles and little notes saying things such as _Bowtruckles spotted. New Mahogany source? _

Shaking his head in confusion, Ron decided that he wouldn't find anything useful there so moved further into the room. There were two strange looking spindly machines and nearby stood row upon row of neatly stacked bundles of different types of wood. Beyond that stood three extremely large, cast iron chests. Ron walked up to them and noticed that they were all labelled with the same messy writing as the notes on the table had been. Peering closely he could just make out what the first one said. _Unicorn hair – Tail and Mane._

"Wand cores!" Ron whispered to himself, "Cool." He carried on to the next chest, labelled _Dragon Heartstrings_, and the third, slightly smaller chest which read _Phoenix feathers. _These were the three main cores Ollivander used for making wands. Ron had been ecstatic when he found out that he would actually get his own wand and had read up on the making of them… well actually he had just asked Hermione about it and he could remember _at least_ five minutes of the twenty-odd minute lecture.

Without thinking he reached out a hand to the nearest chest and ran it along the top, stroking his fingertips across the pattern embossed on it and feeling for the small latch, which he flicked softly open. When he pushed it, the lid lifted stiffly with a small squeak and he reached into the chest to feel the vibrant, flame red feathers he could see within. Suddenly he received a painful shock; similar, he imagined, to being pricked by a thousand burning pins. The feeling, along with some alarming white sparks, shot up his arm and caused him to jump back emitting a small squeak of his own, dropping the lid closed heavily with a thump as he did so. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice near his ear muttered disdainfully, "Idiot."

Whirling round quickly, Ron was relieved to see a worried and guilty looking Harry pulling off Draco's invisibility cloak, which Draco was quick to remove from Harry's hands. Pulling off the other cloak which he had purloined from Harry, Ron checked his arm and was surprised to find not a mark on it. Pleasantly surprised he asked, "How'd you find me?"

Draco gave Ron a withering look; it took all his effort not to roll his eyes to the sky. The journey down the stairs with Harry had not been to his liking at all - the stairwell was narrow and both boys had wanted to go first so there had been much pushing and shoving which, although Draco had smugly won (just), he felt was a little undignified and beneath him. "Well despite this being a magical property, it's not often that chests and the like open by themselves for no apparent reason – and even less likely that they would then slam down suddenly and omit a squeal like a girl. We guessed it had to be you."

Ron blushed a little and then looked flustered for a moment before saying in what he thought was an intelligent voice. "Well of course I knew you would follow – and I thought I'd do a little investigating, as I could see there was nothing to worry about down here."

Draco let out a 'pfft' of air in disbelief. "Yeah, other than the shock you just got from whatever is being protected in the chest. You're lucky Lucius doesn't own this place – a shocking charm would seem extremely mild compared to some of the precautions he takes." He walked to the chest, lifted the lid and put his hand gently through the gap, both of the other boys could see the magic from the charm crackle around his hand for a moment before Draco pulled away and closed the lid again. "Harmless really but it's difficult to penetrate anyway – the shock tends to deter people from trying again." He noticed that Harry and Ron were looking at him strangely. "Why do you both look as if you've seen a boggart? Is my hair out of place or something?" He asked, self consciously running his fingers through his locks.

Ron walked over to the chest and copied Draco's actions; but again he jumped back and this time stuffed his fingers in his mouth for a second. Shaking the stinging sensation from his hands he asked, "Didn't it hurt you? It's worse the second time."

Draco nodded nonchalantly, "Yes it gets worse each time you try until eventually the shock will knock you out. My mother had something similar on the box under her bed – I think she thought if she put a weak spell on it Lucius would think whatever was in there was unimportant…" Draco drifted off for a brief moment but forced himself out of those memories. "Anyway, I'm good with pain so something like this is easy to ignore. Probably I could take five or six goes before I had to pull my hand away."

Both of the other boys looked slightly awkward, Harry noticed for the second time that Draco had called his father by his name. He cast his mind back but the few times he could remember Lucius being brought up in conversation, the younger Malfoy always used to say 'Father' so it was definitely a new turn of phrase.

"Anyway," Draco said flatly. "This isn't helping us is it? Are Phoenix feathers going to help us find whoever is hiding down here; is…" He read at random from a set of small, expensive looking boxes "…Leprechaun hair going to suddenly open a portal to a secret room? I think not."

"Leprechaun hair?" Ron asked ignoring Draco's rant and peering at the other boxes. "Demiguise hair, Hippogriff talons, Ashwinder ash? Ollivander doesn't normally use all of this stuff… There's even Runespoor Fangs here and that's mainly for Dark Arts magic. Guess that's what those notes about experimenting with cores were all about… He's got no Chimaera scale though, shame – it's meant to be really powerful but it's super rare so I guess it's no big surprise… _What?_" He asked, realising the other two were staring open mouthed at him – well Harry was anyway; Draco just had an eyebrow raised with curiosity rather than scorn, which was as good as a gaping mouth where Malfoy's were concerned...

"Weasley, did Granger give you some of her IQ along with all of that saliva you two swapped or have you been suddenly possessed by an intellectual entity?" Draco asked incredulously.

Ron blushed for the second time and shrugged his shoulders. "I learned some stuff about wands before I got mine – that's all."

"Hmm…" Draco sounded doubtful. "Well-"

But whatever scornful remark was about to leave Draco's lips was silenced by the voice they had heard earlier crying out, "Please, whoever you are – either set me free or be gone and stop tormenting me with the sounds of free men."

All three boys stood as still as statues for a moment; Ron whispered "But there can't be anyone down here - there are no doors... I looked."

Harry was spurred into action; ignoring Draco's hurriedly whispered warnings he called out loudly, "Who are you. We mean you no harm but we cannot help you if you do not show yourself."

Inwardly Draco felt like hitting Harry over the head with the nearest blunt object he could find. He was cursing himself enough for letting his guard down and now this idiot had completely announced their presence. They didn't know who the mystery voice belonged to, he was all too aware of the evil tricks Death Eaters played. Hell, his father –_ Lucius,_ he corrected himself – had bragged about them enough... In order to capture someone important, one of Voldemort's men would Polyjuice themselves as someone close to that person – a relative or loved one - and then they would lead their victim into a trap.

Ron looked indecisive, he wanted to help whoever was there but Draco's warning about the wards being set off and Death Eaters turning up had taken an effect on Ron and he was still a little edgy.

"H- Harry Potter? Is that you?" the disembodied voice called out. It seemed to be coming from further down the room.

Draco slapped his hand firmly over Harry's mouth before he could reply with an affirmative answer and possibly doom them all. "_We_ are asking the questions here." Draco said in a cool manner. "State your name and what you are doing here."

"I... I am Ollivander... I have been trapped down here for a long time. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had me locked in this room and left me here to die."

Harry was wriggling madly under Draco's grip and despite his few weeks of being well fed by Ginny, Draco knew he was still not at full strength and couldn't hold the other boy still indefinitely. "It might not be him – it could be a trap." He whispered desperately, trying to make Harry see some sense.

He was rewarded when he felt Harry stop struggling; gingerly Draco removed his hand from over Harry's mouth and let go of his arm. Harry gave him a cursory glance before straightening his top and calling out. "How can we trust you; can you prove who you are? We cannot see you or any doors to other rooms."

There was a pause before the voice that may, or may not have been Ollivander's spoke again. "The doorway is hidden; it was _meant_ to be used as a safe room. Can you see the hand-lights all along the walls? If you come to the far end of the room you are in and look for the third hand from the end you will find that the wand can be depressed causing the door to be revealed."

Draco shook his head quickly as he saw the other two move towards the far end of the room. "We still have no proof as to who you are." He stated.

"How do you suggest I prove myself without showing myself?" The voice asked tonelessly.

Harry piped up again. "If you are who you say you are then what did you tell me when I bought my wand from you?" He had an odd, faraway look on his face. He was remembering how disturbing Ollivander had seemed on the day he had got his wand and was feeling dubious that they should trust this person even if he really was the wand maker.

"So it is you Harry..." The voice sounded slightly more hopeful than it had before. "I remember that day; just as well as I remember every wand I have ever sold... Holly, 11 inches, with a single phoenix tail feather as its core. As for what I said to you – I believe my words were, among others_ 'It just so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather resides in your wand gave another... just one other. It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar.'_"

"Yes." Harry murmured. "You said that you expected me to do great things… You said Voldemort had done great things with his wand…"

Ron frowned at this bit of news. Almost as if the hidden person could see his disapproval, they said: "Great… but _terrible_ if you recall. Please Harry, you are my last hope – I will surely go mad if I am left here for much longer."

Harry couldn't shake off the feeling that perhaps Ollivander had been a little mad already, but he knew that his mind was made up. Before Draco could stop him, Harry strode towards the end of the room and grasped the third wand from the end.

"Get your wand ready Weasley…" Draco hissed, subtly manoeuvring himself so that Ron was in front of him. Ron did just that and quickly moved so he could back Harry up if necessary.

As Harry pulled down on the wand, a noise similar to the hissing steam of the Hogwarts express started and where there had seemingly been just a plain and very dirty wall before, a crack stared to appear. As the crack widened, more detail could be seen almost springing to life on the wall, panels and a small grated window and finally an intricate handle; all of which made up a very large and heavy looking door.

Harry cautiously peered at an angle through the grill, hoping that this approach would minimise the chance of anyone waiting on the other side managing to hex his head off his shoulders. What he saw through the window made him scrabble frantically for the handle.

The man shackled by his wrists to the floor _was_ Ollivander although he was barely recognisable. He was thin to the point of emaciation; his hair was a dirty matted mess, hanging limply over his face in which the features were sunken so deeply that Harry couldn't help but think of a skeleton's face. If it hadn't been for his striking eyes - pale, wide and silvery - Harry might have doubted that the person in front of him was who he claimed to be.

As Harry finally wrenched open the door and took a step closer, he noticed that there appeared to be an awful lot of what looked like old, dried blood splattered around the room. Ollivander's torn clothes and parts of his face and arms were also caked with it. Harry thought he could even recognise the smell that lingered in the room, a musty stench like old meat with a faint hint of copper. It crossed his mind that a normal seventeen year old really shouldn't be accustomed to such things, but then again he realised that he was no normal seventeen year old; even in the wizarding world.

"Are you hurt?" He asked Ollivander with a concerned look in his eyes. Harry wasn't too confident on his healing abilities, especially not for anything that could cause this much blood-loss.

"Not anymore." Ollivander replied cryptically.

Harry looked at him dubiously but decided maybe he'd been wrong about it being blood. _Maybe it was wand varnish…_ he though desperately. Harry bent down so that he was the same level as the wand maker and gently lifted the wrists that were encased in metal. "Do you know a spell I can use to get rid of these?" Harry asked him quietly.

"You could try liberatio, yes that should work. Like this…" Ollivander waved one of his hands shallowly in the air while repeating the word. Harry tried a couple of times without success; but finally the cuffs opened with a click and fell to the ground heavily.

Ollivander smiled weakly at Harry, "Thank you." He said simply as he reached his bony hands out to Harry's shoulder for support. "Please, let us leave this room." He said, looking at Harry pleadingly with those strange eyes.

Harry considered calling to Ron for help, but the old wizard weighed so little that it wasn't really an effort to lift him. The two of them walked slowly out of the room, Harry supporting the stumbling man the whole way.

"Ron, you can put your wand down now." Harry said quickly, reassuring the other boy that he was in no danger. "Grab me the chair from by that desk would you?"

When Ron moved to do what Harry had asked, Draco came fully in to view. Ollivander gave a short gasp and his hand clutched quickly to his chest. Harry looked up at Draco questioningly but Draco, understanding his quizzical look, just shrugged his shoulders in the universal gesture of confusion. However, despite denying it to Harry, a nasty thought was forming in his brain.

Ollivander gratefully sank down into the chair that the very wide-eyed Ron had dragged over for him. Harry moved so he was closer and asked "Are you ok; do you need any medical help? Can you tell us what happened?"

The elderly wizard pried his eyes away from where they had been fixated on Draco and looked at Harry. "I am physically well... thanks to a friend, just a little weak and stiff jointed from sitting on the cold floor for so long. And yes I will tell you my tale, though perhaps you would be kind enough to help me upstairs to my store front first... I am anxious to make certain nothing has been damaged or taken. Once I am sure of that we can sit more comfortably in the kitchen and I will tell you what happened to me."

The boys all looked at each other anxiously. "Erm..." Harry began nervously. "We, erm. Well the fact of the matter is..."

"You set the wand wards off didn't you?" Ollivander guessed. "Yes – I remember that now." He added strangely.

Ron looked at Harry and circled a finger by his temple to indicate how crazy he thought the gentleman was.

"Still no harm done." Ollivander murmured. "They won't attack me so we should be quite safe... yes." He stood and held out and arm which Harry took quickly. The four of them moved slowly towards the staircase, Ollivander casting sidelong glances at Draco all the way, until climbing the stairs made this impossible. Draco made sure he walked behind the others to avoid the burning gaze coming from those milky silver eyes.

They made their way back up to the closed door, behind which awaited the many wands that the three younger wizards still considered to be a great threat. Ollivander released his grip on Harry's arm and shuffled slowly to the handle. He grasped it and twisted; as soon as the door started to swing open he threw his arms out wide and splayed his fingers.

"There, there." He said soothingly. "Settle down now. Back to your boxes please." To the complete shock and awe of the muggle raised Harry and mild surprise of the two pure blooded wizards, the wands flew back and settled in the boxes, which closed around them and then the boxes proceeded to stack themselves neatly on the shelves.

Ollivander smiled happily. "Simple theft charm really, just a very old one so it will seem strange to you youngsters. Only I can remove wands from their cases." He obviously knew what the boys had been trying to do as he continued, "I know _you_, Harry Potter, cannot be in need of a new wand. Even if I had not just seen you use it downstairs; I know that it has much more to do with you yet."

He turned to Ron and regarded his red hair and freckles calmly. "And you, latest in a long line of Weasley's to enter my shop in need of assistance. Yes I remember you…" He added as Ron's eyebrows rose. " Willow, 14 inches and the core was a hair from the mane of an exceptionally friendly unicorn. Practically gave me the hair she did – very strange but one mustn't grumble. It's better than nearly being gored…"

He realised that he was rambling and cleared his throat; his eye's twinkled as he spoke to Ron again. "Your wand is broken again perhaps? Another casualty of youthful recklessness?" He didn't seem to be too convinced.

"No, my wand is fine." Ron said in an overly polite manner, pulling his wand out quickly as proof that he hadn't been reckless and the first wand incident was purely a one off. Ollivander had unnerved Ron just as much as he had Harry.

As there seemed to be some strange tension between Draco and Ollivander, Ron added helpfully. "It's Malfoy's wand that needs replacing sir. '_They'_ broke it." He dropped the speech marks in as easily as he replaced Voldemort's name with You-Know-Who.

Ollivander obviously understood as he nodded knowingly. "Yes, yes. That's right…" He paused and turned towards the boy that was studiously avoiding his eyes.

"I have been waiting for the day when _you_ would walk through my door." Ollivander said passionately, his piercing eyes met Draco's – who wondered fleetingly if those pale silvery eyes had once been the strong metal grey of his own.

Draco sighed, he had suspected something like this was going to occur; he was instantly recognisable after all. Well, he'd just have to be the bigger man and put things straight. "I am assuming that the man I used to call Father was involved in your imprisonment. I can assure you that apart from my name, I am in no way affiliated with him anymore."

He was just about to try and explain that he required a wand in order to go on a probably impossible quest to take back something that had been stolen from him, but Ollivander interrupted.

"I fear that you are labouring under a misapprehension. Lucius Malfoy has barely ever spoken a word to me in his life – let alone laid his hands on me. No, it was because of your Mother that I know one day our paths would cross…"


	43. The start of the tests

**I've had to split what was initially one _extremely_ long chapter into two shorter ones as it was getting silly (5400 ish words and nowhere near finishing) Unfortunately that means that this chapter doesn't have too much going on - kind of a filler chapter I'm afraid. Still the next couple should hopefully have something to get your teeth into!**

**So the next chapter will also be based around the girls, but after that… Well let's say that in answer to Fwakes47 – Draco will be getting a wand very soon… hopefully you will be pleased with the outcome ;) **

* * *

After a moment's hesitation, Hermione tentatively crept forward into the space beyond the cell...

* * *

Slowly and cautiously Hermione followed the vines down what appeared to be an old stone tunnel that had been hidden behind the fireplace in her cell. There were no windows or lamps that she could see, yet somehow since she had stepped through into the flora strewn passage, she had found no difficulty seeing her way. Peering above her she saw why, stunning silver and gold flowers were bursting forth from the ceiling; each of the petals seemed to glow as if they were overflowing with light.

"Star flowers!" Hermione whispered to herself. Although she still wished fervently that she had her wand to protect herself, in the back of her mind she couldn't imagine such beautiful flowers being used by someone as evil as Voldemort.

She continued softly along her way, looking down she noticed that moss was growing a few feet ahead of her, each time she took a step the moss grew further along the floor so that her footsteps were constantly muffled.

Turning a corner, Hermione stopped suddenly in surprise. She had reached the end of the passage but there was no adjoining door or window here; nor any other tunnels leading off… and yet it was not a dead end. Where there should have been a wall there was instead a shimmering, swirling vortex of colours...

Hermione sucked in a deep breath; she had, of course, read about such things as these in history books. Thousands of years ago some of the earliest wizards on record had supposedly encountered such portals as these. They claimed that they were gateways to other places and the few wizards who alleged they had travelled in them (and returned) said that some took you five minutes away and others could take you to a planet in another solar system.

Until this very moment, Hermione had never really believed the stories. She had assumed that there was a logical explanation which the superstitious wizards of the time hadn't figured out… That was, if the rumours hadn't just been invented by a group of people looking for some fame.

But here she was, standing right in front of one. Her brow furrowed over her large brown eyes as she racked her brain trying to think of some rationalisation for this phenomenon. There was no doubt about it; this looked identical to the old etchings and wood carvings in the books; she could think up no reason other than it was a portal.

_Maybe they drugged my dinner?_ She thought wildly and grasped her throat and stomach in panic. Just as she was considering making herself sick, a loud rustling noise started by her left elbow.

Quickly whipping her head round, what she saw made Hermione's eyes widen even more. _Drugs!_ She thought… The climbing plants that had spread themselves all over the walls were now writhing and forming an outline. Hermione's mouth made a small 'o' shape when she realised they were making a face – the very same face that she had seen in her cell.

"_Runawayrunawayrunaway" _Hermione's mind was screaming at her, but it was no good, she was rooted to the spot.

"Are you going to stand there until you go to seed or are you going to come through? I can't keep this open forever you know."

It took Hermione's brain a second to filter through the fact that the deep rumbling voice she had just heard was coming from the leafy face on the wall…

The floral man's face frowned slightly – which was a sight to see - and added, "Well don't keep opening and closing your mouth girl, Step through!"

Before she could say or do anything, a large green hand grew out of the wall and gave her a none-too-gentle shove in the back, sending her toppling straight through the magical doorway...

* * *

Pansy clutched the thick cloak around herself gratefully. Snape was right; down here in the bowels of the building it was cold and clammy. The cloak must have a warming charm on it as her extremities were almost numb with the cold, yet her body was nicely warm.

She cast a glance at the sallow professor next to her, wondering why he would do her such a courtesy when really he could just have left her to get cold. Snape caught her eye and as if he knew what she was thinking he said, "The tests I will be performing are to help judge your limitations. The Dark Lord has said that he will need you to be at your bodily and cerebral peak so you are fit for his uses."

Before Pansy could answer back, Snape drew his wand from his cloak and made several passes with it over an area of tapestry on the wall. "Come." He commanded and pulled Pansy straight through the wall-hanging into a hidden room beyond. Pansy was impressed, she knew how difficult concealment charms like that were; the one leading to platform 9-3/4 was famous world-wide for its size and quality.

Looking around, Pansy conceded that the large room she had ended up in was just as impressive, although in a totally different way. Glass vials, tubes and beakers littered the sides; many were perched precariously over low burning fires and were filled with strange bubbling or fizzing concoctions that Pansy could only guess at. Literally hundreds of shelves ranged across the room and were stacked full with boxes and jars – all filled with potion ingredients. It had to be the largest collection of its sort in Britain, an alchemists dream.

Snape was whispering an incantation over the back of the tapestry. Apparently finished with his spell he walked calmly over to where Pansy was standing. "You can take off the cloak now; many of the potions need to be kept at certain temperatures so it is _unfortunately_ warm in here."

Pansy shrugged off the cloak, wondering as she had done many times at Hogwarts whether Snape really disliked being warm or if it was just an act. Although the potions classroom was always freezing, she had been taken into his house once by her Father and it was certainly not chilly there. Though she remembered Snape's attitude had been cool enough to lower the temperature several degrees – he had not been very happy to see them…

She was shocked out of her current line of thought when Snape took her arm and pushed up the sleeve of her top. His eyes flicked up to her and he must have seen some of the panic that she was desperately trying not to show.

He kept the hold he had on her eyes as he said. "I have to take a sample of your blood. It won't hurt."

For some reason Pansy trusted his last statement. Snape's aura had never seemed particularly threatening to her. She had always thought that it was because they had been followers of the same side. But now that she was… not quite opposing exactly, but no longer a believer of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, she had assumed that she would be able to sense some sort of darkness surrounding Snape.

The ugly cowering man that had fled from Snape earlier on had certainly been tinged with the same feel of decay that she sensed from The Dark Lord, almost as if it had leeched onto him and bled itself into his flesh and bones. Now that she thought about it, to some extent quite a few of the Death Eaters that were higher up in the ranks had the same cloying overlay of death staining their own individual auras.

_Maybe it's because of a connection to Him. But that means that man was important to Him too? _Pansy thought, but he certainly didn't look like he was the sort of person that was important to anyone…

Before she realised it, Snape had finished taking her blood. He started doing other tests on her; all of which were very similar to the medical check-ups that Madam Pomfrey and the local medi-witches performed on the students each year. Once he had finished with this style of tests, Snape asked several questions pertaining to Pansy's ability of sight. He seemed particularly interested when Pansy said that the atmospheric feelings she received from him seemed thick and impenetrable.

Seemingly satisfied, he sat down at a nearby desk, pulled out a large leather bound book and a quill from a drawer and started making notes. Pansy looked over curiously to see if she could read what he was writing about her, but she gasped when she realised that the ink was disappearing into the parchment seconds after Snape wrote each word.

He looked up at her sharp intake of breath and gave a small smirk. He quickly scribbled what looked like a signature, closed the book and muttered a small incantation over it before putting it tidily back in its place.

"A somewhat altered version of one of the Dark Lord's inspirational ideas from his youth. It has previously been put to other means…" Snape said the last words somewhat crisply before continuing in his 'teaching' tone; at least that was how Pansy thought of it.

"It is a form of communication – my words are, as we speak, being transferred from the pages of this tome to one in The Dark Lord's study. He prefers to keep information like this as secret as possible as there are a few people who are overly curious regarding current developments. So, this room and His study are now two of the most heavily warded places here."

Snape gave Pansy a rather strict look and continued in a solemn tone. "As we _are_ in such a well protected room and speaking of curious people… When you questioned me earlier regarding the Ver-" He cut off his sentence suddenly and clutched at his forearm in pain.

Pansy looked at Snape curiously, he was even paler than normal and his lips were pressed tightly together in a thin line. After several deep breaths which made his nostrils flare violently, Snape said, "He is calling me, it must be something urgent. We shall have to continue our conversation later."

Hurriedly he performed the spell to open up the path through the tapestry and pushed Pansy through and down the corridor quickly. As they were passing a series of doors branching off from the passage, Snape again clutched at his arm tightly.

"This will have to do. I cannot apparate you with me in this building, only a select few can apparate here at all. As I am apparently needed immediately I shall have to leave you here for now. I will return for you later."

He pushed open one of the doors which led to an almost empty room, conjured some chains and bound Pansy by her cuff to a large and heavy wooden box in the corner. Without another word Snape apparated away, leaving Pansy wondering what he would have told her if he had not been interrupted.

**

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**

Snape appeared in Voldemort's private study and found that Bellatrix had also been summoned and was already prostrating herself at the feet of The Dark Lord, who sat imperiously on a large oak chair which was typically bound with green leather.

Snape bowed low himself and asked, "What do you require of me my Lord?"

Voldemort looked up from Bellatrix with an amused smile on his face. "Severus, how nice of you to join us." He said in a tone that was as jovial and just as unbefitting as the look on his snake like face. "You will recall that the location of final girl on our list was giving me some trouble?"

He paused as Snape nodded and then continued. "I have discovered why we were having difficulty with the tracking spell. I now know where to find the girl and also why her name was familiar to none of us."

If Snape thought that the Dark Lord was going to reveal any further information to him, he was wrong. Voldemort looked down at Bellatrix and as if she had heard a silent cue from him she removed herself from the hem of his robe and stood, proud and tall. She seemed very pleased with herself and from the look she was receiving from her master; Voldemort was pleased with her too.

Snape knew better than to push for answers so he merely repeated his earlier question. "How may I serve you in this matter my Lord?"

Voldemort looked away from Bellatrix at last and looked hard at Snape. "Bella and I need to travel for a while. The tests you are carrying out are vital to my plans so it is imperative that you continue with them. You will be next in command here so you must not fail me." His eyes burned vividly and Bellatrix shivered slightly at his commanding presence.

Snape again bowed low. "I hope I have proven that your trust in me is valid my Lord. I will continue with the tests and carry out the plan without fail."

Voldemort continued to stare at Snape so hard that it seemed he was trying to bore into his underling's mind with those red eyes. Finally he broke the contact.

"Very well. Make sure you try the mudblood tomorrow and the blood traitor after that. First though I need you to brew some potions for me…"

**

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**

Ginny was rudely awakened by the return of the band around her neck. She had fallen asleep still huddled up by the door in despair. Now she clutched at her throat as the magic in the band started pulling her towards to slab in the corner; the slab where she had previously been lying unconscious for who knew how long since her capture.

She tried to fight against the pull but this achieved nothing, not only did the pain return but the force became greater and Ginny was practically dragged head first across the floor. With some difficulty and a lot of stumbling she stood up and followed the pull until, after laying down, she felt it ease off. _I guess they have set bed times round here_ She thought slightly hysterically, although with no natural light in the room it was impossible to tell what time of day it was.

_Snape said he'd be back to test me? What's happened? Maybe the Order has come and overpowered him and the other Death Eaters?_ Deep down Ginny doubted this had really happened

Thinking about Snape, Ginny realised that she hadn't eaten the food he had left. She saw no point in starving herself, especially as the look on Snape's face when he told her there would be 'consequences' spoke volumes. He would probably force feed her if what he had said was true, and they needed her healthy.

Rolling carefully on to her side, Ginny reached her arm out as far as she could and groped with her small fingers until she could feel the rim of the tray. She pulled it gently towards her until she could reach out with her other arm and lift the tray up to her level. Awkwardly she started to eat the food, which was surprisingly delicious. Snape's spell must have been cast to keep the food warm until it was finished, as nothing was cold yet judging from the cramp in her limbs she must have been asleep for some while.

When she had finally finished eating her meal, Ginny pillowed her head on her arm and tried to get herself at least somewhat comfortable. If it was necessary for her to be at her best, she thought her captors could have at least given her a blanket.

As if on cue, a tall, very ordinary looking wizard with a shock of yellowy straw-like hair opened the hidden door to her cell. "You vill not be needed tonight." He said in a foreign sounding accent which reminded her strongly of Karakoff, the previous head of Durmstrang. "Get sleep vile you can."

Ginny was worried for a moment when he pointed his wand at her but he simply produced a large quilt and several pillows which settled softly beside her bed, and a vial of liquid which fell with a soft thump on top of the pillows.

He did look quite annoyed as he said. "Sleepink potion, I vas told that I am havink to provide some in case you have needs of it." He made a growling noise in the back of his throat, shook his head vehemently and walked out before Ginny had a chance to say anything back.

It was tricky with the restraints that the neck band caused, but eventually Ginny managed to wrap the quilt under and over her and pulled several of the pillows under her head. She lay for a long while before she decided to take the potion, if only to block out the thoughts in her head. The visions of the injured people that she had thought were her parents seemed to be haunting her. Before she fell asleep she wished desperately that all of her family and friends were somewhere safer than she was…


	44. Forgotten pathways

**Chapter updated for spelling… My thanks to Lost Enchanter who pointed out that Google searches aren't all that and I should have checked in the books for the correct spelling of legilimens/legilimency etc… If any of you spot mistakes, do let me know and I'll do my best to change them when I can. The next chapter should hopefully be up in a few days (finger's crossed!)****Well, here is the (**_**hopefully)**_** more involved second chapter… **

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**There's a lot of Hermione in this chapter. I know this is meant to be a D/G story- and it will be. But I wanted it to be the story up until the end of… well – 'The End'… so if I didn't involve the other characters I think it would be a bit wrong of me. I hope none of you minds too much.**

**Also, since the chapters have been split, I've increasingly found that putting the last few lines from the previous chapter is becoming confusing or pointless – so I'm going to stop and probably when I get a moment take the previous ones out.**

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Much to her surprise, Hermione landed lightly on her feet. She wasn't entirely sure what she had been expecting to happen to her, but she was certain that she would never have imagined this…

Surrounding her was what could only be described as a paradise. She had been transported here immediately, there was no flying through space or any breathless, panicky falling that she would have thought applied to portal travel. Hermione had simply left one place and appeared here… wherever 'here' was.

The star flowers that had been growing in the passage were flourishing here also, amongst hundreds of other plants. Hermione guessed that she was in some part of the building that had long been forgotten about; there were no windows anywhere to be seen but there were some signs of brickwork peeping through the flowers, plants and grasses which were growing from every surface. There were several small openings in the moss covered ceiling, through which clear white moonlight was streaming down; its reflection was sparkling gently in the ripples of a small expanse of water over the far side of the room. That and the star flowers were making the room seem quite bright indeed.

"Beautiful." Hermione whispered to herself.

"I'm glad you like it." A voice said from behind her.

Hermione stiffened but stood her ground and said, "If you were going to hurt me, you would have done it already…Is this my test? Is that why you have brought me here?"

"_Test_?" The voice asked, sounding rather confused. "I brought you here because you called me to you, girl… you _are_ a girl aren't you? You have long blossom on your top half and petal like things round your stems, for your kind that means a female…" The voice paused and then sighed. "You humans are all so confusing these days though."

At that Hermione did turn around and found herself face to face with a fully formed… Well, 'man plant' was all that popped into her brain. Thousands of tiny leaves and petals were all joined together to make his basic shape, and many-coloured flowers wound through his hair and beard, just like the picture in the cell.

His words 'blossom' and 'petal' had confused her for a moment but by the green hand that was carefully examining her clothing and the fascinated look on the man's face she assumed he was talking about her hair and skirt.

She extracted the corner of her cardigan gently from his grip and very politely asked him. "Sorry to be rude, sir. But who are you? And why do you think I called you?"

Straightening up the man suddenly seemed to grow very tall and broad; he puffed his chest out somewhat and said. "You mean you didn't know who you were calling? Hmm, most interesting. Well young sapling – your people sometimes refer to me as 'The Green Man' which I suppose is a rather accurate description of how I appear to you. Of course to the different species of animal I always seem to be shaped like one of their own, but to my children I am ever changing depending on the seasons…"

He smiled broadly and continued. "As to your calling me, well you found one of my markers and I had assumed that you were concentrating hard on me. People have to strongly will me to appear... I don't just sprout up out of the ground for everyone you know…"

Hermione looked shocked; she had vaguely heard of The Green Man, people used to worship him as a sort of earthy God like figure. She had never really held with the idea of Gods herself as none of them had ever presented her with a logical argument as to their existence. Now however, if this person standing in front of her was telling the truth, she might have to change her point of view on a few things.

"Hagrid!" She said out loud, rather randomly it seemed.

"I'm sorry but I don't know that word." The Green Man replied.

Hermione smiled rather shyly. "Sorry! Hagrid is the name of a friend of mine from Hogwarts - which is a school for witches and wizards. It was him I was thinking of when I saw your face on the wall, he looks very much like you... He loves nature too." She added, feeling for some reason that she should point out his good points to this creature so he didn't think she was comparing him to just anyone. "He lives near the dark forest and tends the grounds and animals for the school."

The Green Man nodded wisely. "I see, one of '_them_'… In the place where the forest is dark you say? I think I know the person you mean; he is more than just human and he has a great affinity with my kind. Yes, there are several mixed sapped - sorry 'blooded' beings which I have an unusual connection with. Interesting that you thinking of him called out to me…" He looked thoughtfully at her.

Hermione just stood and stared all throughout his chatter. She had met Centaurs; three headed dogs, werewolves, shape-shifters and elves. She had been petrified by a basilisk and knew that Ron and Harry had met an arachnid that could talk. In Herbology they had been given the task of re-potting extremely humanlike mandrakes whose screams could knock you out or even kill you; but standing here and holding a full conversation with a mass of plants which had taken the exact shape of a man (albeit an extremely large one), was proving a little too much for her to take in. She sat down heavily on the mossy floor and held a hand to her cheek.

It was almost as much of a shock as when she had received her letter for Hogwarts; she had of course known that strange things seemed to happen when she was emotional or angry but her parents had always been very sensible about it and everything seemed to be 'most coincidental' or have 'some rational explanation'. So when _the_ letter arrived for her she had of course thought it was someone playing a practical joke on her. Some of the girls at her school had taken to whispering 'witch' behind her back, after an incident where one of the school bullies had mysteriously fallen down a very large, and previously undiscovered hole in the playground. Looking back, it turned out that the girls were indeed correct and Hermione had obviously caused it to happen; the bully in question was trying to steal her school books. At the time however, the teachers blamed poor construction and there were many discussions with a rather bewildered builder.

It had taken a visit from the Muggle Studies teacher (who had been deemed the best choice to talk to the Grangers) to convince the family that magic did indeed exist, it had certainly helped that Hermione had been chosen to become a student in 'the most sought after wizarding school in Britain'. After finding out that such a thing as witches and wizards that could truly perform magic existed, most normal people would have found it reasonably likely that _anything_ could be real… but not Hermione; unless she was given hard proof she still stuck staunchly to her doubting ways.

"Are you wilting?" The Green Man asked her with a look of concern. "There is plenty of water if you need some?" he strode to the pool and scooped a handful of water up in his leafy palm.

Hermione shook her head. "No I'm fine, but thank you for the offer. This was just all a bit of a shock for me; you see I've never really thought that portals or Gods existed... So to see both in one day…"

He laughed. "I'm not a God... Well, not really. I am an entity of the earth – one of the leaders of the elder races; you humans always need to put names to things so Gods we became but I do not think we are truly what you think we are. However it is too complicated to explain. Portals however – well they are my speciality! The secrets of them were discovered many, many seasons ago and it seems there are very few of us left who can conjure them now and none so well as me."

The thoughts in Hermione's head were spinning and crashing together. "Are the portals fixed from one place to another or can you move them?" She asked.

The Green Man said. "I create them from the earth and the air. Generally it does not matter where they have been or where they will go as long as I can live there- although there are exceptions… For example, many places have no air, light or water; I would die there so I cannot open a doorway leading to such places."

Hermione perked up at this news. "So you could help me escape this place?" she questioned him hopefully.

He frowned at her. "You cannot get out? I thought buildings did not constrict humans as they do flora?"

"I am a prisoner here. People are keeping me and have used ways to trap me." Hermione told him.

The Green Man looked angry at this. "That is not good. I know that being kept in a room for humans is not like being kept in a pot for some of my children. For you imprisonment is bad. I will help you if I can."

Hermione looked up at him with a smile of thanks playing on her face. "Can you make a portal that will get me far away from here?" She asked.

Frowning even more than before the Green Man shook his leafy head. "Not from in here - unfortunately this is another one of the exceptions I mentioned… The materials you humans use to make your places of living, learning and worship, restrict my magic greatly. Once inside a building I can only open limited doorways within that space and none which go outside the confines of the building."

"Are you trapped in here too then?" Hermione asked.

"No child, I do not need portals to travel around; I merely use them to transport certain of my children, or guests like yourself."

He looked upset and continued. "My power is so very muted in here – the human spells cling easily to all this stone. If you were outside however, well… _then_ I could take you almost wherever you wanted and leave the portals open all day long. I could show you the most beautiful of my children." He sighed sadly.

Hermione looked thoughtfully at him…"So, if I could get someone to take me outside then you could transport me away from this place to somewhere safe? Even if there were anti-apparition wards up?"

The Green man laughed heartily. "Such wards do not bother me there. In the open spaces where my family and I are abundant, I can do pretty much anything I choose. You cannot cast spells so easily on my kind, we are always moving, trying to evolve and change – the magic does not hold to us so well. Not like the bricks and stones of this place which hold so much magic it is hard for me to fight against it."

Hermione looked at him sadly. "With all of our buildings, we are ruining things for people like you who belonged here long before us. You must hate us." She hung her head slightly, the cruelty of the human race seemed so obvious to her she wondered why others couldn't see it so clearly – the way they treated House elves and Goblins was bad enough, but this… With such a personified example standing in front of her showing her that those plants and flowers were just as alive as her, Hermione now felt that the way people treated the wildlife of the Earth was despicable.

To her surprise the Green man again laughed loudly. "Nay my child." He chuckled. "You cannot ruin anything for us; we are far more hardy and plentiful than you could ever believe. You leave your houses for what seems a second to someone like me, and my children are already overrunning it; breaking apart the mortar and stone and reclaiming the ground for themselves. We will always prevail, sweet child."

He frowned slightly. "Yes some of your kind wage war against us, felling the mighty trees and smothering too much of the grasses with metal and stone. But there is much you do to help us with our evolution, many of your kind love my domesticated children and help them breed in such abundance. We are happy to wait for a while until you learn to share these worlds. If you _cannot_ learn then that may be another matter, but there is no rush to think of such things."

He smiled at Hermione's shocked face. "No wonder your earthy friend thinks much of you. You care much about everything, I can see"

Hermione smiled shyly. "As does he." She said. "Hagrid cares for… well almost everyone, even if they don't appreciate him at first." She sighed, thinking of Hogwarts made her sad. "I suppose I had best go back then. If they think I am missing they would raise an alarm and I might never be able to find a way to get outside."

The Green Man nodded, reached his hand out to her and helped her to her feet. As he took his hand back, Hermione realised that he had pressed something into her palm; it was a small, flat acorn which was strung upon a long piece of what looked like a dried vine. Hermione looked questioningly at the Green Man.

"You will be needing that." He said. "I will take you back to that room and when you can get outside, hold that token, think hard of me and I will appear to help you."

Without any seeming effort from The Green Man, a portal sprung up just behind Hermione, making her jump slightly. She firmly tied the little pendant around her neck and tucked it under her top so it was well hidden.

"The portal will take you back to the forgotten passage behind your cell. My children will hide the way behind you. I hope to see you soon."

Hermione nodded sadly. "I hope so too." She said, before stepping through the shining doorway. Again the journey took no time or effort; she made her way back up the passageway and soon found herself back in the cell. After the beauty of the Green Man's hidden room, Hermione found the cell even more depressing than before. She moved quickly to the slab that she had awakened on and slumped down in annoyance; looking back, she could see that there were plants swarming all over the opening in the wall. They were winding round each other, planting their roots into the shallow dirt in the floor behind the wall and filling in the gap. When they had covered most of the hole, the bottom leaves started to change colour gradually so that by the time the hole was filled they had become the same hue as the surrounding bricks and blended in seamlessly with the wall.

Time passed and Hermione dozed fitfully, at one point she was awakened by the return of the strange contraptions that had magically bound her hands and legs. Not wanting to be hurt, she lay motionless until eventually she dropped to sleep again. When the morning came she realised that someone had covered her with a small blanket and had left pillows on the floor.

Hermione had no idea how much time had passed when her cell door opened. Craning her neck from the uncomfortable position she was in, she could just make out a black haired figure by the door. Half awake, she wondered if Harry had come to see her, but if so then it must be raining very hard as his hair didn't normally hang so limply round his face like that. As the person came nearer, Hermione gasped in recognition, realised where she was and immediately came wide awake.

"Professor Snape!" she cried in a shocked voice.

"Astute as ever Miss Granger." Snape sneered. He waved his wand hand and the restraints holding Hermione disappeared. "Now, being a sensible witch, you will realise that there is no point in your trying to escape?"

Although it was not really a question, Hermione nodded anyway while trying to massage some of the feeling back into her limbs. Snape, obviously noticing her discomfort, waved his wand again and the numbness was suddenly gone. Hermione bit her lip to stop her from showing any interest in the spell – if she ever made it out then she would look up a spell to avoid pins and needles herself.

"Right then." Snape said. "You will follow me for testing; you can have breakfast while I work on you." He turned and held the cell door open expectedly.

Any chance to get out of her cell was worth taking, Hermione decided. She stood up and followed Snape's lead. When they reached his study, Hermione, like Pansy, was in awe of not only the concealed entrance but the extraordinarily well equipped laboratory behind it. Unlike Pansy however, Hermione recognised the spell that Snape cast over the inside of his door, it was one for complete privacy and secrecy for those inside, however it meant that anyone lurking outside could quite clearly be heard.

Snape looked at her in a hard manner. "I will need to take some blood and perform several other physical tests on you; however I feel it wise that you have sustenance first." He waved his wand over a large tray and muttered a few words; platefuls of different breakfast foods appeared upon it.

"While you eat, I want you to peruse these…" he handed over a pile of parchment sheets. They were all covered in swirls and symbols. "Do you recognise them?" he asked her.

Hermione shook her head slightly. "No, although they look similar to some of the ancient runes I've been studying for next year."

Snape nodded. "They are similar – just much, much older." The authority in his tone prevented Hermione from scoffing that there were no older known runes than the ones she had studied. Too much had happened to her, for her brain to dismiss any theories now. Instead she took a closer look.

"You are to study them and see what you can make of them. Eat your food while you do so – I am eager to finish your other tests." Snape turned away from her and started to walk round the room cataloguing his potion stores.

The part of Hermione's brain that was telling her to grab the nearest heavy object, bash it over Snape's greasy head and make her escape through the window was overruled by the parts which wanted food and, more importantly, to read the runes. She casually glanced over at Snape only to find him staring straight at her. Looking down again, she took the knife and fork from the tray.

Snape smirked at her. "A much better choice Granger. By the way – we are underground, the window is merely an enchantment."

Hermione looked up at him quickly. "You must be incredibly skilled at legilimency to have plucked that thought in the short time I considered it." She said, impressed despite herself.

Snape nodded and said unabashedly. "I believe that I am now the greatest legilimens in all of Britain. The Dark Lord and Professor Dumbledore used to be the best, but now the Dark Lord has me conduct most of his interrogations of that ilk so I have improved beyond even his capabilities… not that I would point that out if he should ask you." He smirked nastily. "And Dumbledore… well Dumbledore is dead." Snape noticed Hermione looking curiously at him and turned away quickly.

Hermione thought that for a second she caught a look of remorse flit across Snape's features but she shook the thought away quickly. To cover the fact that she had been staring at him, Hermione spoke up again. "Harry often said that he felt like you were reading his mind at school. Although it's not exactly mind reading, is it?"

"NO!" Snape said forcefully, turning back to face her. "A Legilimens cannot read a mind like a book – I cannot hear the words people are thinking… Legilimency is more flicking through a photograph album. You get a brief image of what is happening, what the mind is feeling. But you must then interpret the picture you have seen and your skill at doing so can greatly change the conclusion you come to. If someone is thinking of a memory it is somewhat easier; random thoughts change so quickly that it is hard to grasp their meaning unless the person is concentrating hard enough to produce a vivid picture."

Hermione was a little shocked that Snape had said so much on the matter. He cleared his throat and nodded meaningfully at the parchments in front of her. She quickly resumed studying them. After a while she asked for a quill and some blank sheets and started scribbling notes as she ate big mouthfuls of scrambled egg.

"That's it!" She exclaimed suddenly after quite some time. Snape turned from where he was counting out billiwig stings and saw that Hermione had made a list of runes and next to each one was a letter or word.

"You have translated the runes already?" He asked quietly.

Hermione nodded and passed him her parchment. "It was quite easy really, once I had the vowels sorted the rest kind of fell into place. Although the runes that translated into full words were a bit trickier but it was just a case of filling in the gaps so the rest made sense."

Snape looked from the parchment to the bushy haired witch. It was his turn to be unwillingly impressed. "Do you realise, Miss Granger, that experts have been puzzling over these words for decades? And yet you, a muggleborn witch who has yet to finish her schooling, have mastered it in a mere few hours."

Hermione gawked at him."I, but…well. Really decades?" she finally managed with a squeak.

"Yes. Your gift of knowledge is most certainly strong, I will give you that. Why the powers that be chose _you_ when the others are all…" He blinked briefly and cut off whatever he was about to say. "Now, we will perform the other set of tests."

He started to roll back her sleeve, perhaps pre-empting a similar response to that of Pansy, he stated what he was doing before each test. Hermione followed Snape's instructions perfectly, all the while trying to train her brain away from thoughts of escape. She concentrated instead on the runes that she had deciphered. Each page had contained small snippets of what seemed to be a riddle; she knew that they were all connected somehow but without the complete set of writings she didn't know how.

Finally when Snape was finished, he signalled that Hermione could stand. He walked her back to her cell and said. "I am glad that you were co-operative. I do not see why your bindings should be necessary any more. I can only hope that my next test subject will be as compliant – although I doubt it. Too much temper and not enough brains, but then the whole family could be accused of the same; it must have something to do with the red hair." With that he turned, cloak swirling and left Hermione gaping open mouthed as the cell door swung closed.

Hermione was shocked but her brain was still racing away. Why had he given her that parting piece of information – was he trying to help? She shook her head dismissively; after Dumbledore's death Harry had explained to them what had happened causing him to be convinced of Snape's loyalty to Voldemort. _Maybe Snape was showing off?_ She thought. _He certainly doesn't expect me to try and escape so maybe he was just trying to prove how powerful they are and how many of us they have captured. If they have Ron and me then I can only hope Harry hasn't been caught too_… Of course, it never crossed Hermione's mind that Snape would be talking about another red-haired member of the Weasley clan.

She stewed over it for a while, hoping that her boyfriend had been treated as well as she had. Finally Hermione decided that she needed to try and talk with him and had an idea how to do so. Walking to the back of the cell, she held her hand towards where the picture of the Green Man had been but she noticed that it was missing, as the wall was now a fake. Unconsciously she grasped the little amulet around her neck as she thought of a way to get through; almost as soon as her fingers closed around the acorn it started to tremble slightly and the flowers that had camouflaged themselves to blend in with the wall suddenly split apart, allowing her entry into the tunnel.

"Thank you." Hermione uttered the words even though she felt a little silly doing so. It never hurt to be polite after all.

* * *

Ginny moaned quietly as she lay tangled up in the covers; she was dreaming about her parents lying injured on the floor. Only now they weren't alone, Ginny's brothers were also sprawled by the accident, limbs at painful angles. She could see Hermione's frizzy hair, now matted and dirty. Even Harry was there with his glasses at an odd angle on his face, the lenses shattered. Ginny was trying to run towards them, desperate to help, but no matter how hard and fast she ran - the distance never seemed to get any less.

Suddenly she came to an abrupt standstill, unnoticed until now, a shock of platinum-blond hair was poking out from amongst the carnage; the rest of the head was coated scarlet with blood.

"Noooo…" Ginny screamed in despair.

"No what, Weasley?" A voice broke into her consciousness and Ginny's eyes fluttered open slowly. _It was all a dream_, she thought blinking away the sleep. When Snape's sneering face came into view she realised that she was unfortunately still trapped in a cell.

"Are you going to behave yourself today, or will you need me to take measures?" Snape said with a twinkle in his eye that Ginny didn't like the look of.

"What do you want from me?" She said, as politely as was possible through her gritted teeth.

"I need to conduct some tests which require you to come with me. Anything further than that is none of your concern."

"None of my concern?" Ginny said shrilly. "So if you're planning on killing me that's not my concern?"

Snape looked at the fiery redhead calmly through his hooded eyelids. "You seem to have got the grasp of the matter." He said with a nasty smile. With a wave of his wand, the neck constraint again disappeared.

"Now if you would care to stand and follow me." From Snape's tone, Ginny could tell that his words were definitely an order and not a request. She stood, glared at him and walked with her head held high to where he was waiting by the cell door.

Snape cast a binding charm on Ginny, similar to the one that she had used on Draco when they had been shopping. "Just in case you feel like wandering off." Snape smirked.

On the way to Snape's room, Ginny tried to keep a track of their route - but like the two witches before her, she found it was almost impossible to remember every turn. It was especially confusing because much of the way involved doors disguised to look like the tapestries hanging near them, and tunnels which were hidden behind large portraits of scowling wizards.

Many of the pictures muttered remarks about despicable red-haired brats roaming their castle, one even shouted at her. "A Prewitt in my house? Abominable…"

The portrait next to it said. "Nay, she is a Weasley – a blood traitor."

Ginny lost her temper and shouted in annoyance. "Both of those _pure blooded_ families are my ancestors and I'm very proud of their choices. So if you don't shut it I'll claw your canvasses."

Both of the wizards looked shocked and a little worried that she might actually follow through with her threat, but Snape merely tutted. "Don't antagonise the portraits Weasley or I shall be forced to silence you."

Eventually they made their way to Snape's large laboratory, Ginny frowned when she entered. "So how many poisons are you brewing then?"

"Seventeen." Snape said without batting an eyelid. "Why do you ask? Tempted to use some?"

Ginny gave him a filthy look. "I would never take my own life. I'm no coward."

"Ah, the foolish Gryffindor bravery. Not that it is needed here; you will not be permitted to harm yourself." Ginny scowled at him, much to his amusement.

"Now, are you going to comply with the orders or am I going to have to imperious you?"

Ginny gasped. "You wouldn't."

Snape's gaze bore into her eyes. "Are you willing to try me?" he asked, a malicious smile playing about his lips. Ginny shook her head slowly; as far as she was concerned the imperious curse was almost as bad as being possessed, something she didn't want to suffer again.

"I didn't think so." Snape said. "Now, bare your arm so I can take your blood."

Ginny let Snape complete all the tests he wanted to without a single word, but when he pulled out the leather bound book from his desk, a look of horror passed over her face. When the ink disappeared from the page, Ginny's fears were confirmed.

"Where did you get that?" She demanded breathily.

Snape looked up at her, he regarded her carefully for a moment, taking in her wild eyed look and flushed face. "It is merely used as a method of communication; currently it is just storing the information for later perusal."

Still her eyes flicked between the pages and Snape's face. He sighed heavily, slammed the tome shut and turned to her.

"There is no spirit; no memory of Tom Riddle in this book, Weasley. It is merely a poor replica of the one you owned for a while." He noticed that Ginny was still eying the book warily so he put it back in the drawer; but she stared mindlessly at the space where it had sat.

"Now." He said loudly, shocking Ginny from her thoughts. "I need to explore how strong your particular power has become and the potential you have."

Shaking her head and wrinkling her brow, Ginny asked, "What power?"

Snape looked at her as if she was an imbecile. "I know that Dumbledore spoke to you about your 'gift' last year"

Ginny threw him a look of pure hatred. "Yes, well… _someone_ killed him before he was able to inform me of anything more about it."

For a moment Snape mirrored her look of loathing, if Ginny had been less angry she would have worried about him hurting her. As it was, Snape turned away from her and checked on several of his potions that were bubbling away around the room. When he turned back, the cool demeanour had returned.

"What have_ you_ discovered about the power then?" he asked casually.

"Nothing! How in Merlin's name was I supposed to?" Ginny retorted angrily, unwilling to give any information away.

"You know _nothing_? Still with your family it doesn't surprise me" Snape gave her a particularly haughty sneer. Instead of making Ginny furious, the sneer, along with the family quip, reminded her so forcefully of Draco that she suddenly felt very sad.

For a split second Snape's eyes widened and his sneer was replaced by a look of disbelief. "No," He murmured quietly. "It can't be. It must be from before."

Ginny didn't dare move or speak, convinced that the professor had finally snapped. He gazed piercingly into her eyes for a moment.

"Weasley, the diary from your first year. I know that Lucius gave it to you; did you have much contact with the Malfoy's after that?"

His odd question caused Ginny to frown deeply. "Why would I? I mean Draco Malfoy was at school with me… I hexed him once." She tried to sound as if she had nothing but dislike for Draco; but she couldn't help but worry for his safety. _I hope he's ok_, she thought, vividly reminded of her dream.

Snape if anything looked even more confused. "Hurt? But that's impossible. I know that your family hasn't – nor the mudblood…"

Ginny took a step away from the pallid wizard – wondering if he was completely mad. Noticing her edging slowly away, Snape pulled out his wand.

"Stand still." He cried and then with a flick of his wand, "Legilimens."

Ginny gasped as the spell took effect; memories that she would rather not relive started flashing before her eyes. Falling from one of her brother's brooms when she shouldn't have been flying, her desperate crying at being left behind when Ron went to Hogwarts; waking up with her hands covered in blood; Tom standing over her, slowly draining her life energy.

Suddenly she was recalling the fearful night when she had stunned the Death Eater in the forest and discovered Draco; how scared she was when one of them tried to attack her and how relieved when Draco had knocked them unconscious with a branch.

Draco… More images flooded to the surface of her brain; Draco saving Ron when he was covered in ice; Draco kissing her to save them from Crabbe and Goyle senior. The memory of the dementor attack and of faking Pansy's death was playing through Ginny's mind when she finally realised that Snape was witness to it all. Desperately she tried to stop him, to force him out.

"No…" She tried to shout but all the came out was a mere whimper. Surprisingly though, Snape finished the spell and stood perfectly still, staring at Ginny with undisguised detestation.

"He should be dead." Snape croaked in a hoarse voice.

Tears began to trickle down Ginny's face but she stood tall and hissed at Snape. "I won't help you find him – I'd die first."

"You foolish child." Snape spat the words at her. "If the Dark Lord comes back and wants that information from you, he _will_ have it." He seemed to think for a moment and then pulled back the sleeve of his cloak - he unbuttoned his shirt cuff and did the same with that sleeve, revealing the skull and snake tattoo which formed the Dark Mark. Ginny gasped loudly and backed further away from him.

She looked wildly around for something to throw at him; anything to prevent him contacting Voldemort and letting the secret of Draco's survival be known. Unfortunately Snape hadn't missed her wide eyed gaze.

"Petrificus Totalis. Mobilicorpus." He levitated her body to a chair and promptly ignored her, instead pressing his wand firmly to the mark on his arm.

In a clear voice, Snape intoned, "Unus via contages" and then reeled off a list of names. Suddenly, shadowy faces began to appear in front of Snape, their smoky eyes roving wildly and their mouths moving silently. When roughly a dozen of these faces had appeared Snape cleared his throat.

"There is a problem with the third girl. Her magic is instable to the point of being dangerous. I am going to return her to the cell and start on a concoction to stabilise it. In the mean time you should avoid the area she is being held in. Anyone disobeying orders will be reported to the Dark Lord…_ if_ there is anything left of you to report. Do you understand?"

All of the translucent faces nodded quickly at Snape's words, and he dismissed them instantly by removing his wand from the Dark Mark. He pressed his lips together so tightly that all that was let was a thin white line, and turned to Ginny.

"I will have to return you to your cell while I sort this mess out. No one should approach you, but if they do - say nothing to them. I trust none of them to deal with this as it needs to be dealt."

Snape proceeded to transport Ginny's paralysed body all the way back along the long twisting corridors until they reached her room; where he swiftly took the spell off and whisked out of the door before Ginny had a chance to blink.

Angry and scared, Ginny ran to where she knew the door was and started banging her hands against it. "Let me out." She screamed, not expecting anyone to answer, but at a loss for something else to do.

After a few moments Ginny realised that the exercise was futile and instead focused her attention on the walls looking for any sign of disrepair; a loose stone or crumbling mortar, however minute they might be - they still would signal hope. But there was none, the walls looked as though they had been recently reinforced – whoever had been in charge of the cells had certainly done their homework and prevented any chance of escape.

In despair, Ginny sank to the floor; thoughts of Draco ran through her head – had she damned him to discovery and possibly death? Although she was wracking her brains, Ginny couldn't seem to find any way to send a warning to Draco. Finally she sighed, stood up again and started pacing her cell.

Ginny was unaware of how long she had been walking backwards and forward for, but she suddenly became aware of a rumbling noise from the back wall of her cell. _What now_? She thought, spinning round to see what was happening to cause the noise.

Being from an ancient wizarding family and having a very open mind, Ginny was _ever so slightly_ less shocked than Hermione had been to see part of her wall being demolished. However, she was still standing with an open mouth when a large plant walked through the gap. For the umpteenth time that day her eyes widened, but this time she gave a large curtsey, bowed her head low and said in a voice filled with wonder, "My Lord, it is an honour to feel your presence."

"Ginny?" Sure that the Green Man wouldn't have such a feminine voice, Ginny looked up sharply and blinked her eyes several times to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"Hermione? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing Ginny – Where's Ron?"

"How should I know?"

Hermione shook her head exasperatedly; she turned to the Green Man and said, "I thought you said that you had managed to find the person I was looking for?"

The Green Man looked a little confused. "This is the only flame haired person we could sense in the whole building. There are no others that I can find… Is this not the one you were after?"

Hermione shook her head. "I thought we were _meant_ to be looking for a male."

The Green Man rumbled back at her. "Well I told you that it is confusing for my kind. This one has no blossom or petals, I thought that was correct?"

Hermione smiled behind her hand, once she managed a straight face she walked the Green Man over to Ginny. "Her 'blossom' is hidden here," Hermione reached out and pulled Ginny's hair down from the bun it had been in.

Her companion nodded in sudden understanding. "Much better." He nodded his approval of the hair now cascading over her shoulders.

"And we don't always have skirts – 'petals', as sometimes it's easier to move about without them. We should probably work on how you tell the two sexes apart as I agree your way can lead to a lot of confusion!"

Ginny looked thoroughly confused at the conversation going on between the two new occupants in her cell. Hermione noticed the expression and explained.

"Snape mentioned that there was a Weasley here –I thought that Voldemort would have captured me because of my connection to Harry. I assumed, obviously incorrectly, that it was Ron that Snape was talking about and that he would have been taken for the same reason. I'm not certain but _maybe_ they took you because you were dating Harry?"

Ginny shook her head at Hermione, "You said yourself that it's very unlikely anyone would choose me anymore than they would Cho – no one except our close friends knew that Harry and I were serious."

Hermione looked thoughtful. "You're right, plus I can't see Voldemort capturing you instead of Ron. No offence, but I can see Voldemort choosing Ron for his importance to Harry – but he doesn't really understand love ,so he wouldn't have got why you were important…"

"Harry never loved me." Ginny said.

"Well that's irrelevant now really isn't it? Why would he capture us two; what connection is there?" Hermione tapped a finger to her lips as her brain whirred into action. However the Green Man cleared his throat loudly.

"Should we not be getting back to safety?" He asked. Hermione jumped slightly and nodded.

"Yes of course. I can think on it more when we get there."

"Get where?" Ginny asked.

The Green Man smiled at Ginny and held out his hand. "Let me show you my dear."

With a nervous excitement Ginny took his hand, it wasn't everyday she got to meet a semi-deity. He led her through the gap in the wall, and once Hermione had followed them through he waved his free arm, causing numerous plants to start filling in the hole as they had in Hermione's cell.

"How clever." Ginny said when the plants had covered about half of the wall and started changing to match the surrounding bricks.

"Ah, colour change is a speciality of that breed – it is impressive I know... Look." The Green Man concentrated for a moment and suddenly all of his body started taking on dark pinkish hues. "I am more human now yes?"

It was true that his leaves were now closer to a tanned skin colour; the shape of each leaf could still be seen though, giving him a strange tattooed effect. Ginny glanced down and looked up again extremely quickly with a gulp.

"Much more human – yes." She choked out.

"Very accurate." Hermione smirked from behind her. "But I think it would confuse people, green suits you much better." She added tactfully. The Green Man laughed, changed back and led the two girls towards the portal waiting for them.

As they were all distracted with their banter, none of them noticed the cell door open - and when they walked through the portal, not a single one of them was aware that someone had flung themselves through the rapidly closing gap in the flowers and was running quickly after them, wand outstretched.

* * *

**Phew! Next chapter is back to the boys.**

**I have so much more to write, it's quite exciting (for me anyway! Hopefully you're excited too.) I do have it all jotted down in notes so I hope you'll stick with me – it's taking a long time but I will finish this even if it takes me another year!!**

**Oh - "Unus via contages" should roughly translate from Latin as 'one way contact.' (Although I'm not sure how much I trust the online translation programmes!)**


	45. The Master is chosen

**I'm sorry this has taken such a long time – I thought I was going to be able to whip this chapter out fairly quickly but it seems that life has a stubborn way of taking over my plans!**

**I will again promise that I **_**am**_** going to finish the story and I do have several pages worth of chapter notes so I don't get lost along the way… just if things keep going the way they have it might take some time!**

**Not being the best of writers, I'm afraid that I've ended up including quite a lot of dialogue in this chapter to get the story told – I hope I've broken it down just enough to be interesting but still make sense! **

* * *

"My mother?" Draco asked sharply. "What does she have to do with this?"

Ollivander held his hand out for Harry to take once more. "It is a long story – shall we retire to the kitchen and have a seat? The explanation will take quite some time."

The old man looked relieved when they reached the small yet cosy kitchen. "Good – they did not meddle with anything."

Still holding on to Harry for support, Ollivander tapped an area of the oak work surface in a staccato rhythm, causing a tiny section of it to pop open and reveal a hidden drawer. He withdrew a thin and gnarled wand and after cradling it to his chest for a moment, he started waving it at various areas of the kitchen, causing the room to spring to life. The old tin kettle started to boil, the grill cover popped open and flames could be seen from within; a cupboard door sprang open and many foods, crockery and cutlery flew thick and fast through the air. In a couple of minutes a relative feast was sitting before them.

Ollivander smiled happily. "Decent food at last." He murmured, helping himself to a small buttered crumpet.

"Eat up!" He said to the boys. It was the happiest Harry had ever seen him. "I don't often get to entertain but today is a special day."

After everyone had eaten at least one plate's worth of the meal, Ollivander tapped the table thoughtfully. "Where to start?" he said to himself before turning to the boys. "What would you like me to talk about first - my capture or Narcissa Malfoy?"

"Your capture." Harry and Ron chorused together.

Draco, who had held back before answering, spoke up. "As long as I get the answers I'm after, then I suppose you have every right to let us know why you were left to die, before explaining how you know of me and my mother."

Ollivander nodded. "Very well... I have known for some time now that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has been trying to contact me. Ever since your confrontation, Harry – he was curious about ways to counter the prior-incantatem spell. With Dumbledore's help I had placed certain protections around the shop so it looked abandoned; I remained here, happily continuing my work - and no one could see me except Dumbledore.  
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was not entirely fooled by our little charade but there was nothing he could do about it. However with Dumbledore's unfortunate demise, the spells weakened and one day the Death Eaters broke through – this was quite some weeks ago…

"You-Know-Who wanted me to 'fix' his wand; he wanted to eliminate any chance of your wands giving a repeat performance of the night in the graveyard. He grew angry when I told him there was nothing I could do to help him and demanded that I make him a new wand – a superior wand. I tried to explain to him why this would not be possible but he told me that I must try anyway – and that I should provide wands for his Death Eaters that had broken out of Azkaban also.  
I was provided with all I could possibly need to create their wands and I have to admit that although I did at first refuse, He has ways of making people do whatever he wants…"

His milky eyes seemed distant for a moment, lost in dark thoughts that perhaps would never leave him.

"When the pain became too much I agreed to try and do as he asked, knowing full well it was a pointless task, but desperate to stop his torture…When he eventually realised after days spent trying many wands, that I was unable to make him a better one he became angrier than I had thought possible.  
He raged for hours, lashing out with his wand at anyone within reach; eventually he calmed somewhat and had me locked in that room. They left me broken and bleeding, so I think he must be certain that I am now dead. After all, no-one knew I was here so who would think to look for me?"

Harry looked very solemnly at Ollivander, feeling immense pity for the strange man. But something had been niggling away at the back of his mind and he felt obliged to voice it. "I'm sorry to make you relive any more of this than is necessary… but do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"

When Ollivander nodded, Harry continued. "Well, firstly, why didn't you get Dumbledore use the Fidelius Charm to hide the shop and use him as a secret keeper?"

Looking down at the table, Ollivander picked aimlessly at crumbs of food on his plate. He seemed reluctant to speak but finally did, although not without an audible sigh first. "Dumbledore said that it would be extremely difficult to produce the spell strong enough to make all the people that had ever visited my shop forget where it was located. But he offered to try anyway and in hindsight it would have been wise for me to accept.  
Foolishly I turned down that offer; I was concerned that if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was conquered, it would be impossible to have Dumbledore reveal the secret to everyone. I mean, even if he wrote it in the newspapers, not everyone reads them…  
Basically I was an idiot who acted out of greed rather than sense."

Ollivander hung his head and looked regretful. Harry couldn't think of anything to say, he didn't know enough about the spell to say what was and wasn't possible. So he chose not to comment, instead moving on to his next question.

"If Voldemort, sorry…If You-Know-Who left you in such a bad way, how did you survive until we found you?"

"Ah…" Ollivander's head lifted, his eyes twinkled and he gave Harry a knowing smile. "A question I had hoped you would ask me." Instead of answering, the wizened old man pursed up his lips and gave a strange, melodic whistle.

The three guests sat with baited breath for a moment but nothing seemed to happen. Then, just as Harry was about to speak again, the kitchen window banged open loudly and in flew a large bird, whose feathers of gold and red seemed to radiate colour making even the shadows in the room seem brighter.

"Fawkes?" Harry cried out in wonder. "But how?"

Ollivander again smiled. "Fawkes and I are old friends – I don't think he would have given up his feathers for anyone other than Dumbledore or me… After his master passed away, Fawkes became a regular visitor here. Perhaps he had been asked by Dumbledore himself to watch over me, or it may just be that he was lonely and wanted companionship."

With a flick of his wand, Ollivander summoned a perch for Fawkes and started to gently stroke the Phoenix's plumes.

"He is my saviour… When Fawkes came to visit he found me locked away. Adult phoenixes are not fooled by enchantments such as those on the room which became my cell, so he was able to see me and pass through the grill. With his tears he healed my wounds, they even seemed to seep into my body and knit my broken bones.  
He also brought me any scraps of food that he could find… but, as neither one of us speaks the other's language; Fawkes could not know to bring me a wand."

Harry looked at the beautiful bird sat grooming his feathers, Fawkes noticed him watching and gave a musical chirp which Harry felt sure was a greeting. Something inside him lifted then; he had thought Fawkes was gone forever along with Dumbledore – but here he was, sitting a mere few feet in front of them all – looking healthy and alert.  
Although Harry knew that Dumbledore himself was never coming back, he allowed some hope to enter his heart for the first time in a long while.

"My final question then is this. Why couldn't you make another wand for Vol… You-Know-Who? I mean – I'm _glad_ that you didn't make him a better wand but I know that wizards and witches can use more than one wand, so surely if anyone can make a specialised one, it's you?"

Ollivander took a small sip of water and then looked firmly at his audience, "I must explain some things to you, as I tried to explain to Him, about wands and their properties – it may be a little boring for you but it is necessary to understand your question, in fact it is relevant for both tales I will tell you today…

"Each and every wand is unique; even if two wands are made with the same core type and the same wood, they are still different – like each person has their own set of fingerprints, every sliver of wood, every strand of hair or feather has different qualities to any other."

He shuffled in his chair slightly before continuing. "When a wizard is in need of a wand, they will find that one particular wand works much better for them than any other choices…

"I like to consider magic like music – and each of us produces a different melody; your wand is like a musical instrument, a horn for example. A horn would amplify a tune so it can be heard loud and clear, as a wand would channel magic.  
But… just as the horn cannot make a sound on its own, wands do not actually produce any magic themselves. A horn would need a musician to breathe the music into it, as the wand needs a wizard's magic to resonate through it. Not that wands don't seem to have a certain magic of their own, but I think that should a muggle find one, it would be merely an interestingly shaped stick to them...  
In order to enhance the magic and achieve the best results, the wand must closely match the reverberations in the particular wizard's magic – the closer they are harmonized, the more focused and therefore powerful the wizard's magical flow becomes."

Throughout this speech Ollivander had been highly animated, waving his hands wildly as he talked. Now, however, a deep frown creased his brow and his fists clenched. "That is the reason why I cannot abide the passing down of wands … A son may be nothing like his father; they may be producing completely different songs which would cause the wizard and the wand to be out of kilter and their magic to be less than satisfactory. Still, it seems fashionable amongst the older families and nothing I can say will prevent that."

Ron slunk down in his chair slightly, feeling embarrassed about having had a hand-me-down wand for such a long time. The elderly wizard didn't seem to notice his reaction and instead cast a glance towards Draco. Not particularly bothered by having owned what he considered a very satisfactory antique wand, the object of Ollivander's gaze sat still. Draco was taking in everything that was being said but he was eagerly awaiting his own explanation.

Ollivander tore his gaze away eventually, seeming slightly disappointed in Draco's lack of response.  
"For some, once they have been matched, that is the end of their story. They will always remain the same person they were born as and should have no need to ever change their wand.  
Of course, wands are not infallible; they can be broken or lost… Also, some people change as they grow - especially if there are drastic changes in their life. Their magical melody will alter too and in these cases it is necessary to find a new wand… Many people will have two wands over the course of their lives, some three or even four.

"However on rare occasions, a wand matches its owner so _perfectly_ that from the moment they first touch, an unbreakable bond is formed. The wand will be malleable to the Wizard's changes in mood and their connection would survive through even the most traumatic of experiences."

Ollivander paused in his speech to look carefully at the three boys. When he continued it was in a more excited tone.

"Such pairings can produce the most powerful of wizards, who are capable of great and wondrous things. Examples are peppered throughout history; Saint Mungo was suspected of having such a connection, as were The Founding Four, those who created the Wizards Council and later the Ministry for Magic, Tharstibe, Circe and quite possibly even Merlin.  
Although in the wrong hands such power can corrupt the individual, as history showed us with Salazar Slytherin.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is another such person whose wand is perfectly in tune with his magic - as was Grindelwald. Luckily for us though, Dumbledore also possessed a vast amount of magic and had such a connection with his wand; enabling him to match Grindelwald's powers easily and defeat him.  
Dumbledore is considered by many to have been the most powerful wizard since Merlin himself. Such a pity his life had to end so prematurely."

Surprising all of the occupants, except possible Fawkes, a great tear stole down Ollivander's face and splashed to the table. He did not seem ashamed of his grief, for which Harry was strangely grateful.

After a moment's respite, the wand maker continued. "You too, Harry, will be added to the list… Although you are still young and have much left to learn, your connection with that wand and the power caused by it is undeniable. Hopefully that is a sign for the good."

At the revelation that there was yet another wondrous thing about 'Potter' Draco's patience wore thin and he muttered, "Figures." only partly under his breath. He felt a little childish doing so, but the constant reminders of Dumbledore's death - which he considered to be his fault, if not his actual doing - were making Draco edgy, and he was impatient to hear of his mother. Ollivander merely looked at him strangely for a moment before delivering his final word on the answer to Harry's question.

"That is the reason why I could never make a better wand for You-Know-Who; even a wand made from the best materials available would still never perform for him as well as his current one…  
He would not _ever_ settle for a lesser one, even with the prediction he is in. No, he will search for other ways to overcome the connection between the two wands."

"So we've got an advantage then?" Ron piped up for the first time since they had reached the kitchen.

"Yes and no." Ollivander said, making Ron uncomfortable with his piercing gaze. "Prior Incantatem will only work if both Harry and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named cast at each other in the same instance. If Harry is unaware of His presence, You-Know-Who can still Avada him in the back..."

Draco shook his head. "Potter has become too much of an obsession of Voldemort's – yes, I'll say his name. Voldemort would want Potter to know who killed him… That's our advantage."

"Our?" Ollivander questioned him, the strange look appearing again as he studied Draco. "You mean to join the fight against Him?"

Draco looked at the other two young men in the room and back at Ollivander. "I'm taking back something that was stolen from me. I never signed up for any heroics; if Voldemort turns up that's Potter's job not mine. Potter needs all the advantages he can get."

"Gee thanks Malfoy. Anyone would think you wouldn't be bothered if Voldemort won – if he took over the country. Why do you care so much about Ginny anyway? You can't honestly have feelings for her! I _know_ what you're like. Ron and I can save them all without you."

The blond wizard's eyes were murderous. "I don't need you to fight my battles Potter."

"Why are you making it your battle? I know you and you're nothing but a coward. I don't trust you." Harry's eyes had turned a darker shade of green as he stared venomously at his old enemy.

"I couldn't care less whether you trust me or not. I know more than you do about how Voldemort plans and how his Death Eaters work... I don't have to explain myself to you of all people, and I've already said that I'll go on my own if I have to."

"Why though?" It was Ron that had spoken up. "You've always hated my family... I owe you a life debt so I can't say that you can't come with us – although obviously Harry can," Ron added quickly. "But I think I at least deserve to know what your feelings are towards my sister. I'm not bloody happy about this… this, _whatever_ it is between you two, but I've learned the hard way not to mess with Ginny's decisions.  
Look, it's me that'll have to pick up the pieces if you break her heart, so if that's your plans I'll do my best to stop you before you can." By the end of his sentence, Ron had sat completely upright and was glaring down the table fiercely at his old enemy.

Draco stared at Ron incredulously, but the red-head wouldn't drop his gaze.

"Just tell them boy. – It's imperative you all go together or you will fail... I have seen it."

All three boys stared at Ollivander. Draco, caring less than the other two about offending the old wizard, looked him directly in his silvery eyes.

"Why do you keep saying stuff like that?"

Smiling in a knowing way, Ollivander said calmly. "I will tell you once this animosity between you has been cleared."

Ron let out a loud derisive sound, blushing almost immediately afterwards but maintaining his impressive stance. "Sorry. I just – well... Us - Harry and me I mean – us and Malfoy, we've always hated each other. It's just, well, natural really!"

"You must repress your dislike for each other then. At least until the task at hand is completed. A divided force will be weaker than a united one. Master Malfoy. This girl you speak of, you have feelings for her do you not?"

Draco, uncomfortable with having such feelings - let alone sharing them, merely shrugged one shoulder elegantly.

Ron frowned and his hands gripped the arms of his chair until his knuckles were white. "Look, I know you're never going to be the lovey-dovey type Malfoy – but if you're just after getting in my sister's pants, well I-"

Malfoy sighed theatrically over Ron's tirade. "I don't know. _OK_? Do you have to pry into my private business?" he asked grumpily. All of the occupants nodded, even Fawkes trilled a melody in seeming agreement causing a real sigh to escape Draco's lips.

"I enjoy her company. Ginny doesn't treat me like I'm already moulded into the person I have to be. She just talks to me like I'm a normal person. It's nice not to be 'Evil Draco the Death Eater's Son' or 'Heir to the Malfoy riches'." As Draco reflected more on his feelings for Ginny, he forgot about the other people listening to him and thought of only the red haired witch he had been spending his time with.

"Ginny's just got something about her that's… invigorating. She's so _alive_. After expecting to die for such a long time, to find someone like that… Well, I don't want to lose the opportunity to find out more about her, and about the way she makes me feel." When Draco realised exactly what had come tumbling out of his mouth he was mortified.  
To rectify his embarrassment he added quickly. "Plus she's hot and I think she'd be wild in bed."

The look of absolute horror on Ron's face was too much for even Draco to take, and a rare smile graced his face for a second.

"Wow Malfoy, I don't think I've ever seen an actual smile from you... sneers yes, and a few evil smirks but never an honest to god smile. It's creepy."

Draco was turning to snap out an offensive come back to Harry, but stopped short when he noticed that behind the glasses, those green eyes had lost all of the anger and were twinkling with mirth. That one small look reminded him so forcibly of the man he couldn't kill, that, for the third time in his life, Draco felt completely out of his depth.

Ollivander looked at Harry who, after a short pause, nodded.

"Right then." The wand maker said chirpily; glad that for now at least, the boys would be civil. "I do not think that you would understand the importance of what will come if I did not clarify certain things. Luckily an explanation will tie in nicely with what I have to tell you of your mother." He nodded to Draco who was still feeling strange and confused.

"I will have to give you some background history before I can get to the point I am afraid… so please be patient with me… Accio family tree."  
After a brief moment a very old, rolled tapestry flew through the door, which closed itself afterwards. Ollivander waved his wand and the hanging unrolled and floated next to the table. It hung from the top of the high ceiling and yet there was some length still coiled tightly in the roll on the floor; many, many names could be seen branching off.

"Ollivander's have been making wands for as far back as our line goes; however we were not always the exceptional craftsmen that we became and are today… Many generations ago, Samuel Ollivander fell in love with, and married, a powerful witch – the younger daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw.  
It is not often mentioned in history lessons, but Rowena herself was a seer."

Ron, who had calmed down somewhat since Draco's words, scoffed slightly. Ollivander looked shrewdly at him and said "It is true that she was not an incredibly powerful one, although she had more visions than your school's Trelawney, who has made a mere handful of real predictions. Rowena instead preferred to use her incredible brain power than rely on often confusing visions.  
However her daughter had true sight; much like one or two of your distant relatives I believe?" Ron quietened down; he had been informed in depth about his ancestry by his father after he had mentioned being able to drop his 'rubbish' divination lessons.

"Samuel loved his wife dearly, he doted on her and their marriage was a happy one. They had several children but it is Peter, their oldest son that I will speak of today. Peter was the only one to inherit his mother's talent, but his visions were rare and seemed pointless; he would see nothing but a grove of trees, or perhaps an old Dragon going to its last resting place. His mother seemed pleased however, and would merely state that _'all would become clear with time'_.

"As the first born, it was Peter's right, and his wish, to learn the family business; Samuel delighted in teaching his son the art of wand making and Peter excelled at shaping them. When it was time, they embarked upon a long trip to replenish the supplies needed to craft the wands.  
One day, not too long into the journey, Peter felt as though he recognised part of the woods that they were travelling through. As if in a trance, he led his father further into the forest until they came across a grove of magnificent beech trees, some of the best quality wood Samuel had ever seen. It was then that Peter realised that the sight in front of him was from one of the images that had come to him; they had all been showing him how to find the very best woods and cores for his profession.

"From then on, Peter's visions became clearer and more common, by the time he took over from his father; Peter knew instinctively the best mixes of materials to make the wands from. Occasionally he would say that he knew who a wand was for. His father would ask for a name or a face, but Peter would shake his head and say he could only tell how the person would 'feel' and not what they would look like.

"Peter's gift has been passed from son to son, and occasionally daughter, throughout generations. As each person would gradually fulfil the tasks they had seen - uniting wands to their rightful partners and discovering new and exciting sources for materials; their visions would become fewer, until eventually they would at last stop. Then their heir would take complete control of the business, with their own sights to fulfil.  
My own son waits patiently for the last few of my visions to come to pass. Hopefully there will be a place left for him to continue with."

Ollivander sighed heavily at the thought of his shop and livelihood being destroyed by the dark war they were being thrown into.

"I have been here such a long time waiting… There is a certain element of hit and miss with the visions. Sometimes a wand might be made for a customer who is not yet ready for it, the wand could be waiting for them to grow or change so they are more suitably matched. In those cases we must also wait as even though the wand may be completed, the seer of the vision must be the one to present it."

Ollivander laid a hand on Harry's arm, making him jump slightly. "Of course, _you_ were ready for your wand immediately. I was scared to follow my instincts when you came in to my shop that day. A day I had feared and yet was as excited as a school boy about. I tried to pretend to myself that you might make a different choice, but deep down I knew better than to doubt my feelings."

_Back on bloody Potter_ _again_, thought Draco. Rather brusquely he said, "Ok, so you're some sort of a seer; that's why you keep coming out with weird stuff, _great_. Now I'm sorry to sound rude," he obviously wasn't. "But I am rather interested in knowing what you have to say about my dead Mother."

Expecting Ollivander to be angry at the outburst, all the boys were surprised when he smiled suddenly.

"Yes, you are He… The grace of the mother cannot hide the power of the father. A very suitable mix I think. Admittedly I have been sidetracked from my point. If you will honour me with a few more moments of your time then I think your patience will be rewarded, rewarded very well indeed.

"When he was still a young man, Peter's mother, Cailen, came to him with a request that he make a wand. She would not indulge why; she merely gave him two hairs to be used as the core and said that one day, an Ollivander would understand and that until the day came, it should be kept safe from prying eyes and not spoken about to outsiders.

"Many, many years ago; when I was an impetuous youth, I tried to take the wand from its hiding place. My Father had told me not to touch it, so of course I did – however it seemed fate had driven me to it as I was subject to my first, and most powerful vision."

Ollivander had sat upright at the mention of his vision, his eye's had opened, the milky film that seemed to cover them had gone, revealing the unnatural silver underneath; his cheeks were full of colour and he seemed younger and more alive than he had before..  
"It is impossible for me to explain to you fully what having the sight is like. A vision is similar to a dream… but more so! Everything is still slightly surreal although the senses are heightened. It feels as though an extra sense has awoken, taken control of those other senses, combined them and is putting them to a use you never knew existed."

As quickly as the vigour had arrived, it disappeared; sinking back down in the chair, Ollivander was once again the strange old man they were used to.  
"When the sight fades, for the moment it takes you to adjust, it is as if the world - which was previously full of clarity - has become blurry and indistinct. Once I had recovered from the sensation I realised that I knew who the wand was for – I had felt their aura, one of power yet filled with conflict, I felt that I would recognise it instantly when I met that person."

Draco repressed the urge to fidget. Ron was a little glazed in the eye as he continued munching away on the remaining food. Harry, of course, was still listening intently. _Bloody goody-two shoes_, Draco thought before turning his attention back to Ollivander as he started to speak again.

"Some 22 years ago, a beautiful young lady came into my shop, followed by a handsome, yet somewhat sour gentleman who was quite obviously not happy at being here. I remember their conversation clearly…

'_Your mother's wand may have been claimed already but my Grandmother's wand is perfectly acceptable for you. I see no need for a new one when inheriting wands is the done thing.'_

'_I understand how you feel dear, but your grandmother's wand is far too heavy for me to use – you know I have delicate wrists! I will have the best wand available and you yourself said that this is supposed to be the most highly thought of wand maker… Anyway, I can pass it on to my daughter – you would want your wife and child to have the best, wouldn't you?'_

"The young man scoffed a little at her comment. _'Father would prefer male heirs you know.' _The lady pouted and fluttered her eyelashes somewhat at her beau which seemed to melt his attitude somewhat.

'_I suppose if you are going to be stubborn about this I will just have to get you the most expensive wand here. That may appease mother somewhat.'  
_The beautiful girl rolled her eyes somewhat at the mention of his mother but she flashed him a dazzling smile anyway_"_

Ollivander shook his head in an amused manner, recalling the way the young lady seemed to have the man wound round her little finger. "They came to the counter and her eyes met mine, I felt a surge of power and the vision flooded into my memory suddenly. I somehow managed to greet them in a manner befitting their obvious wealth and breeding but my head was reeling. My shock must have been noticeable as the lady looked at me as if I were about to keel over and asked if I was feeling alright.

"The man murmured in a voice that I am fairly sure I was not meant to hear, _'He's probably never had customers of our status here before.' _Turning to me he said,

'_We are after the highest quality wand possible. Do you have anything suitable for our requirements? We would not want to waste your time if you do not…'_

"I feel it was his time that he didn't want wasting but nevertheless… I of course have a superb range of wands, which I told him; but I was most interested in handing his lady friend the wand which had caused my vision all those years prior. I closed the shop up and opened a fine bottle of wine for them to sample with some cheeses and fruit while they waited for me to collect the wands."

Noticing Harry and Ron's strange expressions, Ollivander explained. "These things are often done for important customers; however I was especially keen to apply the full pomp and ceremony, as I managed to slip the wand unnoticed from its resting place at the same time. I placed the wand in with a selection of other wands, and with mounting excitement let the woman try her hand at some of them.

"She discarded many for various different reasons; too short, too knobbly, wrong coloured wood, too thick - and so on. Just over half way through she picked up the wand I had been waiting for, the hairs on my arms rose and I held my breath - but to my dismay she dropped the wand straight back down as if it had bitten her. She didn't even try a spell with it! I questioned her and all she would say was that it felt wrong, _'as if I were not meant to be using it….' _were her words.

"Eventually a wand was chosen and once the price was settled her young man headed off to Gringotts to withdraw the money. As soon as he left I felt the feeling of that specific power ebb away, I felt a fool… Why had I automatically assumed it was her power?  
When he returned - along with that feeling - I felt almost certain that the wand was meant for him. Yet I needed to be sure, so I told the young lady that Mme Malkin was displaying some extremely rare and beautiful wand cases, all the rage and much more suited to her robes than any I could offer. I suggested that she choose one while the wand was being paid for; my flattery worked as she immediately left, but as she walked out of the shop door the feeling once again faded."

Ollivander shrugged his shoulders in a defeated manner. "Not wanting to be deterred so easily, I coaxed the young man into trying out the wand, saying it really was the best we had to offer should he want to purchase it for himself. But yet again the wand was quickly handed back as if it were something nasty.  
As the gentleman was leaving, he met the lady by the door and for a final fleeting moment I felt the surge of energy again, only when they were both present did I get the sensation from them. This confused me greatly for several years, every time my gaze fell upon the wand I would speculate… Until one day, when I saw their picture in the papers and read that they had produced an heir – one Draco Malfoy."

Draco had watched Ollivander finish his tale with a grand flourish, but he looked doubtful. "So you think that this wand you spoke of is meant for me? If that's the case then why did you never contact me, or my parents?"

"Oh no… No, no. Quite out of protocol. Indeed no - When a wand calls to its owner they _always_ come here. We do not make house calls!" Ollivander looked thoroughly shocked at such a suggestion.

"So what exactly are you saying?" Draco asked in a tone too neutral to really be that unconcerned. "Are you saying that I'm here because a wand is calling me?"

"I believe that it is a part of why you are here, yes… The wand that I touched, that caused my vision, I know it was made for you – the culmination of two great families. Follow me, all of you." Ollivander stood suddenly, noticeable steadier than before, and led the boys through the shop floor and to the very front of the building, where the customers normally waited.

He indicated to them that they should take a seat each. Only once all three were perched on the spindly chairs did the shop owner act. Pressing the hoary fingers of his left hand against the glass enclosure of the store's window display, he whispered a few gently words. The glass simply disappeared, just as Harry had once caused the glass to vanish from the snake's enclosure.

Draco felt as though a sudden breeze had sprung up and was buffeting him from all sides. He glanced at Harry and Ron and was shocked to see that they appeared unaware of the new feeling.

"It's calling to you boy. Your past, it is keen to join with you and take its part in your present, and your future." Ollivander seemed to have grown taller, more powerful than Draco remembered.  
"Take it Draco Malfoy – take the wand."

Draco stood and moved cautiously to the window, all he could see was a single ebony wand, lying on an old, sun faded purple pillow. Both were cobwebby and unappealing. He looked to Ollivander questioningly, but the old man merely nodded once more towards the wand.  
Shrugging, he leant down and delicately plucked the wand from its bed, revealing beneath the stripe of dark, lush purple velvet that had been hidden for generations from the sun's fiery gaze.

As soon as his fingers had curled around it, Draco had known; had felt his magic surge down his arm to greet the wand as if it was an old friend, returning home after a long time away.

Ollivander lifted up his arms to the sky and chanted in a deep, eerie tone. "And so, the famed wand has finally chosen its master… The first part of Cailen's prophecy is complete."

* * *

**Sorry it was so long winded – like I said, I'm not an amazing writer so I had to do the best I could. I feel like I have some really good ideas but not sure I can do them justice!**

**Apparently 'phoenixes' is the plural of phoenix – I never knew that, I thought phoenix did for both – like sheep!!**

**Oh, and the 'third time' for Draco being out of his depth? I figured the other two would be: 1) when he had to try and kill DD, 2) when his mum died and he was about to be killed too.**

**Finally (being a stickler for correctness) – I know that if Ollivander had taken the wand from the pillow to show Narcissa, then the unbleached section of the pillow hasn't**_** technically**_** been hidden fro the sun for generations, but it was only away for a short while and it sounded better that way!**


	46. The truth about Snape

**My greatest apologies for leaving this so very, very long before updating… (About 4 months!) **

**I'm extremely nervy about it actually, which is partly why it's taken so long to write (that, kitchen fitting and life in general!)  
But I have put up a couple of other fics which I hope have kept you entertained… I'm probably going to alternate between this and Duels, Fools & Yule from now on… Especially as I want to get the Christmas chapter of that up for Christmas (unlikely but I can dream!)**

**This chapter features some of Snape's history – I found it hard to get him to talk while staying in character so sorry if this is naff – after a hideous amount of re-writing, I decided just to get it out there and move on!!! (It took me 3 days on and off just to do a final proof read as I kept changing so much!)**

**My main plot was decided on before the last book was published (bloomin 'eck it's taken me forever to write this!)… Some of the events are quite similar though and I've padded them out a bit after reading the official story!  
However it's not exactly the same so apologies to all of you who will be a bit disappointed with no L/S romance… I did consider just using JKRs plotline but I figured I'd try my twist on it and see… **

**_._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _._**

Ginny stood in awe of the spectacular display of beauty in the cavern-like room. Her eyes grew wide as she saw countless varieties of plants and flowering bushes flourishing before her, the sound of the water trickling into the tiny pool was like music to her ears.  
Having already seen the wonderful display, Hermione merely smiled slightly at her friend's reaction.

"Look Ginny, we need to figure out a way to get outside. Then…" She paused and turned to their companion. "Sorry, but I can't keep calling you 'The Green Man'. Don't you have a name we can call you?

Hermione's casual tone caused Ginny to blanch. "Mione – he's practically a God – don't be so flippant!"

The Green Man burst into rumbling laughter. "Do not fret my flaming beauty… your charming friend cannot offend me so easily." He turned thoughtful for a moment before adding. "I do not normally have need for a name, but some used to call me Viridios if that is acceptable?"

"Perfectly, it's very fitting." Hermione said blushing slightly. "I just felt a little awkward referring to you as a title all the time! Viridios it is… Anyway, as I was saying – if we can get ourselves outside, then Viridios can transport us to wherever we want - we'll be _safe_ Ginny…"

Ginny, keen to get away from Voldemort's lair, looked around carefully for a means to the outside. She thought that she saw something move out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned around there was nothing there. Shrugging off the feeling of being watched, Ginny continued to probe each nook and cranny of the room with her eyes.

"There's light coming through those gaps in the ceiling, could we not try and climb up there somehow?"

Hermione considered it for a moment. "I did notice the light when I was in here before, but it's so high up and I couldn't see a way of climbing there. Oh if only we had our wands."

Viridios cleared his throat in a delicate manner. "Sorry to interrupt my little saplings, but I can be of assistance I think…"

Before either girl could question what he meant, two gigantic shoots had burst out of the loam at the their feet and roots swept the girls' legs from under them; the plant continued to sprout, two little buds burst into life and grew into leafy platforms, which the young witches sat on as they ascended towards the roof, a little too quickly for Hermione's liking.

"It's a bit like Jack and the Beanstalk." Hermione commented once she had stopped feeling queasy.

"Like what?" Ginny queried with a crinkled brow. Being raised in a wizarding community meant that muggle fairy tales, with all their magical wonder, were a little redundant.

"Another time maybe Gin, we're nearly there."

Just as Hermione was reaching her fingertips towards one of the larger gaps, she felt a crackle of magic fly past her. With a loud booming noise, stones and rubble filled in the gaps, showering the girls with dust and debris.

"What the…" Coughing and spluttering, Ginny and Hermione peered down to where Viridios was, but he was looking away from them, seemingly staring into thin air.

"Now why would you do such a thing, little human?" Viridios waved his hand and all of a sudden a very determined looking Severus Snape appeared as if from no-where, wand extended. He looked somewhat shocked at being made visible but recovered quickly.

"With all due respect good sir, they _cannot_ leave!" Snape boomed the words with force, although he bowed his head slightly afterwards.

Viridios looked confused as Snape's words. "Why not just ask us then? Now you have ruined their chance of exiting this place…"

Ginny finally found her tongue and called out, "Viridios - don't listen to him, get rid of him."

The deity looked up at her with a curious expression. "Why need he go? Maybe he can help you find another path out when he has spoken with you –I am enjoying all of this human company very much."

"He's one of the people who imprisoned us." Hermione called down from her leafy perch.

At her words, Viridios frowned deeply and a circle of razor sharp briars sprung from the ground to surround Severus like a cage. "What have you to say about this? Imprisoning your own kind?"

Snape hadn't moved and seemed very calm; he looked from the thorns back to The Green Man. All he would say was that, "It was necessary."

"Don't trust him; he's a traitor and a murderer." Ginny shrieked desperately, "Can't you send him away somewhere?"

But Viridios shook his head slowly. "Surely he must be given the chance to explain himself? He doesn't _feel _bad…"

Ginny squealed in annoyance but quietened down when Viridios cast a stern glance her way. "Now then, you will explain. I do not like the sound of this at all. You will tell me all – then we shall see if these accusations are true."

Now Snape's face changed from its impassive look to one of anger. He tried casting several spells at his thorny prison, but to no avail. Finally he narrowed his eyes until they were almost totally hooded with the lids.

"All accusations placed against me are true. Now you aren't going to kill me so you may as well let me go." He said, once again seeming calm and collected.

It was Hermione's turn to frown. "You're admitting it, just like that? Why – why so easily?"

"Does it matter?" Ginny asked, although she too seemed a little taken aback at Snape's frank confession.

Viridios looked between the humans and shook his leafy head. "Something goes unsaid – I for one am curious why a human would do such a thing. I would ask for an explanation. Speak…"

Snape glared at Viridios, his unwillingness to speak was obvious for them all to see. However the Green Man held his gaze until finally Severus was forced to look away. "It was… necessary - all of it."

"I think you can do better than that. Come now - you have just looked at me, seen my power, and I can tell that you know what I am capable of. If needs be, I can find out exactly what I want to know without your co-operation; would you not rather speak of your own free will?"

"You wouldn't" Snape's face was a picture. Hermione thought privately that the only times she had ever seen her old Professor this worked up before was when Harry had been involved somehow.

"Why not?" Viridios asked him. "Your kind does worse things to each other all the time. I see no difference."

Severus reddened slightly and pursed his lips together tightly. "Very well. I had hoped to take my reasons with me to the grave, but since you seem determined to drag the answers out of me in any way possible, I shall choose to at least tell my story in a dignified manner."

He stood tall and held his head high, his pointy chin sticking out from under the mass of greasy black hair. "Traitor I am, I have long tricked and betrayed the leader of what was once my cause in life. Long ago I turned from Voldemort and chose to instead give my alliance to Dumbledore. That however is my only treachery."

"He's lying." Ginny interrupted. "He double crossed Dumbledore. _He_ was the one that killed him."

"There are far worse things that death." Snape replied quietly.

"Name five." Ginny snarled back at him.

Viridios made a gesture with his hand, Ginny and Hermione came swiftly back down to the ground and the thorns surrounding Snape retreated back into the soil. Grabbing Ginny's arm, Viridios steered her towards Snape.

"Look at him girl. Open your eyes and truly look. You will see if it be truth he speaks or lies."

Ginny glared at the pale, angular face of the teacher who had tormented her brother and friends; she took in the greasy hair of a person who was unfair and unkind, the large hooked nose of a Death Eater who had murdered one of the most brilliant wizards she had ever known.  
However, when Ginny studied him closer, she also saw the dark expressive eyes of someone who had saved the life of his most hated student several times, and the pursed lips of a mouth that once offered to help a young man escape the fate that had befallen his mother.

_Why had Snape saved Harry really? _Ginny asked herself. And although she knew that Draco seemed to be a favourite of Snape's, were they actually close enough for the older wizard to risk the wrath of Voldemort just to help Draco escape?

As these thoughts fell through her brain, Ginny could once again feel a strange heat build up and start burning within her. Ignoring the roaring and buzzing in her ears, she turned her gaze back to Snape's eyes and finally saw the truth held within them. The truth and a basic goodness of soul which shocked her so much that she stumbled slightly…

Snape wasn't lying.

A hand touching her shoulder caused Ginny to whirl round. Viridios was looking kindly at her Ginny noticed that the leaves which made up his body and face had changed texture and were now hard and spiky like a cactus. She also saw Hermione standing just behind him with eyes as round as saucers.

"Your friend was concerned about what was happening to you but she could not reach you through the heat. It does not bother me however." He smiled and his body started to change back to its previous appearance. "Did you see into his very being?"

Ginny nodded. She swallowed down hard, spared a quick glance towards Hermione and then turned back to face Snape.

"I... I suppose I owe you an apology. But I don't understand - if you were loyal to Dumbledore... why did you kill him? Harry said that Dumbledore begged for your help, b-but you still did it."

Snape's face contorted, he looked furious, but Ginny felt that beneath the anger, she could see a deep sadness and remorse within him.

When Severus spoke, it was in a cold and detached voice. If Ginny had not seen to his soul she would think that he simply did not care, but now she felt that his lack of emotion was possibly the only way he could bring himself to speak at all.

"Dumbledore _was_ begging me... But he was asking me to end his suffering, spare his life by killing him. He wanted me to be the one to do it, so as to spare Draco's life, his innocence if you will.  
Dumbledore was... turning; both he and I knew it would have come to the same thing in the end. He preferred death than a half life, than becoming something unnatural. This is why I also altered the Avada Kedavra to throw Dumbledore's body to the ground, I felt that he would not wish for his remains to be mauled or disrespected."

"Was it the ring?" Hermione asked, biting her bottom lip slightly and looking extremely thoughtful. "We all saw what had happened to his arm, was that the start of it?"

Snape looked at her. "No – although destroying that ring did cost him his hand; it was not a progressive curse. However, I think it did have certain unexpected and unfortunate side effects that we weren't aware of...  
No, it was the potion in the cave which was the cause. When Dumbledore travelled with Potter, he already knew what the potion in the cave was; he knew what would eventually happen to the person who consumed it. Dumbledore was prepared to die for the cause, just neither of us realised it would be so soon."

"What did the potion do? Was there no other way?"

Snape looked for a long time at Ginny as if judging whether or not to answer her question. "The potion, if it had taken its due course, would have drained Dumbledore's life force and then turned him into an Inferius. There was no antidote known, and no other way we could think of… Someone had already tried, and failed to save a victim of the same potion.  
If we had more time, it is perhaps possible, although unlikely, that we may have found another way to get to the horcrux. As we didn't have the luxury of time, Dumbledore decided to go to the cave and attempt to retrieve the locket in the same way the person before him had. The headmaster would let no-one go in his stead – he said he had lived long enough and could not ask such a thing of anyone else."

Ginny wondered if Snape had offered himself; it would take a great deal of bravery to do such a thing – but then he was obviously brave to have lived a double life for such a long time, and she had seen courage and determination in him. Still, Snape was the one standing in front of them and Dumbledore had gone to the cave. Ginny didn't feel quite brave enough to ask the question, she supposed some things were best left unspoken.

"How horrible." Hermione murmured, tears were welling up in her eyes and threatening to overflow, but she swept the backs of her hands roughly over her face and wiped them away. "Poor, brave Dumbledore. He gave his life willingly; it's so much to take in. But why didn't he tell Harry? Every thing would have been so much easier – for you more than anyone!"

Snape gave Hermione a cold look. "Even if Potter had known, I doubt that he could have done a thing to change the circumstances. Dumbledore had often told the impertinent boy that he trusted me, but Potter did not want to believe him. In any case, Albus never said anything until he was ready, not to even me. He always said it was for my own good, that people in general tend to react to information before they had fully thought things through.  
I have no doubt that in the end he would have told his precious Potter almost everything before he died, but we were hoping for more time… The other person lasted several days – but the vast strength of Dumbledore's magic, combined with my preventative remedies he took before going, should have protected him for even longer than that, several months at least, a whole year maybe.

"Why did it react so quickly then?" Ginny asked. "What went wrong? Was it the ring?"

"I cannot be a hundred percent sure, but I think the ring's magic altered the potion and sped up the process of the reactions. I have thought long and hard about this, and it's the only plausible explanation. Now, if we are quite done with this subject?" Snape drew his cloak about him haughtily.

But Hermione had a question left. "You mentioned someone else who had been poisoned? Who were they?"

Colour flushed to Snape's normally pale cheeks, his breath caught and he clutched at something in the breast pocket of his robes.  
When he finally spoke, it was just three words. "Regulus Arcturus Black"

"Sirius's brother..." Hermione whispered. "R.A.B!" She gasped excitedly as she quickly connected the name to the initials from the letter Harry had found in the fake horcrux locket.

"Sirius told us that his brother tried to back out of the Death Eaters and so Voldemort had him murdered? That doesn't tie in with his dying from the potion, unless that was his punishment..."

Severus frowned; he had hoped to skip this part of his story - however he resigned himself to telling them everything, for better or worse. After all, it would be dragged out of him forcibly otherwise…  
He conjured several black leather chains and signalled for everyone to take a seat. Viridios nodded his head amicably, but instead of making use of the chair, he moved his hands together and a large mound of earth piled itself underneath him.

Snape shrugged and began. "At the start of my second year of Hogwarts, I was informed that I would be partnered in transfiguration to help my pick up my grades. Well, my new partner and I worked well together and we started to seek each other out in breaks, after school and so forth. My new friend also often met with a girl in the year below us, who in turn was a classmate and companion to Regulus.  
So through those tenuous links, we all ended up spending most of our free time together and the four of us formed a close group; me, Regulus, Anna Sawyers and my partner Lily.

Hermione, again quick to grasp matters asked, "Lily Pot – I mean Evans?"

Ginny gasped. "Harry's mother!"

Snape nodded. "Yes, Potter's mother, Lily Evans. Hard as it may be for you to believe, Lily was once as close to us as her son now is to your group of trouble makers. I am certain that Regulus was very much in love with her, however he did not have the confidence to show her how he felt – he did not have much self-belief at all when he was younger. Regulus had always felt insecure and unattractive compared to his older brother.  
Yes Regulus and Sirius Black were very different people and there was an inordinate amount of rivalry between the two. My friendship with Regulus was the main reason Sirius and his group started to fight with me and take notice of Lily. Sirius liked to toy with his little brother's emotions – I think he also knew how Regulus felt about Evans, so he flirted and tried to woo her. But as he also did the same thing to half the female population, Lily did not take his efforts very seriously."

Hermione pulled a face, she didn't like hearing bad things about Sirius, but she knew from Harry that he had been a bit of a rogue at school - especially where Snape and presumably Regulus had been involved.

"Regulus was a good person deep down, better than I was at any rate. But, he was scared of his parent's attitudes towards Sirius and his actions. Regulus wanted so much to be accepted by his family; he was terrified of his father, Orion, but loved him at the same time. More than anything in the world, Regulus wanted to make his father proud.

"The summer after my fourth and Regulus's third year, Orion introduced us to the circle of The Dark Lord's followers… You have to understand – we were already aware of them, and I in particular already felt drawn to the dark arts, but one does not tend to enter that group without being introduced to it."

Snape paused; a look that Ginny could not decipher flickered quickly across his face. Viridios seemed to know what it was though, as he looked at Snape sympathetically.

"Lily grew withdrawn and took to spending time with other people – she did not like our new hobby. Anna followed out of loyalty to Lily. The more involved Regulus and I became with the Dark Arts, the more our friendship with the girls waned, and the more Potter's gang clashed with us.

"Meanwhile, Orion was growing unhappy with the teachings Dumbledore was giving, I know now that the Headmaster was trying to give us choices, show us that maybe there was another way… but we were children still really – and the Blacks were very persuasive people. Anyway, Orion and his wife Walburga wanted both of their sons to transfer to Durmstrang where they were teaching 'their kind' of lessons…"

"Sirius never went to Durmstrang…" Hermione pointed out.

Snape nodded. "Regulus – of course – agreed to his father's wishes, though it saddened us both. Sirius refused his family's wishes and moved in to the Potter family home.  
I am sure that Potter Juniorhas as much difficulty keeping his mouth shut as his father did and so you must know of the final falling out between Lily and me. After that, I threw myself whole-heartedly into doing all I could to make myself worthy for Voldemort.  
As you are undoubtedly aware, my last couple of years of school were not superb, but finally I graduated and was marked as a Death Eater."

"Did it hurt?" Ginny asked, absently rubbing her arm in the place where the Dark Mark was branded onto Voldemort's followers.

Snape merely shrugged. "Not as much as some of the things we were subjected to… After a year of following His wishes as an official follower, I was reunited with a newly graduated Regulus. He had already been marked as Durmstrang did not really look down upon such a thing.  
Our time together was short however… within a year Regulus had disappeared. His body was never found so some people said that he had lost his courage and run. I couldn't believe it of him, and shortly after he vanished I found out that the rumours were completely unfounded."

Snape reached into his robes and withdrew a wad of pages, held together with the scraps of a spine, what looked to have once been an expensive cover and presumably several spells. He stroked it lovingly, the anger he had previously been radiating now replaced by sadness.

"One night, shortly after his disappearance, I had a visitor, a house elf that you are most aware of… Kreacher. He told me that his master had ordered him to deliver this diary to me upon his death." Snape's face was a cold mask as he relived that night.

"After Kreacher left, I secured my house with every spell I knew and settled down to read his journal. Parts of his story I knew and parts were new to me, however Regulus's words changed my life forever; they made me see that the side of the Dark lord was the wrong one…  
Regulus had grown to be much more confident in his time at Durmstrang; he had become skilled in finding out information, mainly due to his immense desire to know every single thing about Lily. He was so obsessed with her that he learned the art of spying; however this gave him the habit of poking his nose in where it was not wanted. He found out that Voldemort was a half-blood preaching about pure-blood supremacy, amongst other things…"

Gripping the book a little tighter, Snape shook his head slightly. "I still cannot understand how Regulus came by all the information he reveals in here… at least not without an invisibility cloak - which he did not have, or being a master of legilimency - which he was most definitely not.  
He discovered that the Dark Lord was trying to turn members of the Order of the Phoenix to his side – those who would not comply would be murdered in a very public way as an example. The Dark Lord had already been refused twice by Lily and James Potter; He was greatly frustrated at this as they were rather an influential couple at the time."

Snape said it sarcastically, as if he thought it was a ridiculous thing to be saying, but Hermione knew that they had been very open and vocal with their protests against the Death Eaters.

"Although Regulus always blamed and hated Potter for stealing Lily away from him, the thought of their possible death shocked him and caused him to think about the paths he had chosen in life, wondering whether he would have been able to protect Lily better if had he not pushed her away with his desire to fit in with his family's wishes.  
Regulus started taking risks, leaking information to people that he shouldn't be talking to and eavesdropping on private meetings. When he discovered – through whatever sources he was getting his information from – that Lily was trying for a baby, he decided that he could not stand by and watch her die. He contacted our old friend Anna and asked her to convince Lily to either agree to Voldemort's wishes or to hide herself from the outside world as completely as possible.

"Anna did as he asked; but while Lily – and her husband – were thankful for the warning, they both chose to be brave, although I would call it foolish, and continued to flaunt their aversion to the Dark Lord, renouncing his offer for the third time. Voldemort somehow discovered about Anna's meeting with them and murdered her. Before her death she was tortured terribly, but she never gave Regulus away, having obliterated her own memory before the Death Eaters who came for her could take her wand."

Snape bowed his head and was silent for a moment, obviously thinking about the girl who had been close to him, and her cruel and untimely death. Viridios moved slightly, whether he meant to comfort Snape was unsure as the potions master quickly raised the book slightly, thumbing through it as if to make sure he was getting everything correct.

"My friend was obviously very clever, for not even I knew of his role as traitor… Not until it was too late. After Anna's death, Regulus grew furious at the Dark Lord - he vowed to destroy the objects holding pieces of Voldemort's soul and then kill him… Murder the very person that Regulus himself had once admired and looked to for approval…  
Between his last few frenzied entries, and the garbled information I could gather from Kreacher, I managed to piece together Regulus's demise and tie it to the potion from the cave. Kreacher was not making much sense, but managed to tell me that he had cared for his master for several days. He used some sort of fire shield to keep the Inferi away and tried with all of his Elfish magic to cure Regulus… however eventually his master turned into an Inferius and sunk below the water with the rest. Obviously distraught over his favourite master's death, all the elf kept muttering was that '_it couldn't be broken_'."

Snape stood from his chair and paced behind it while talking. "Indeed, the news of Regulus's death also affected me. I had loved him more than anything in my life; he was my only companion – my brother, more so than he ever was Sirius's. His death and his words shook me to the core."

He turned away from the captive audience for a moment, breathing heavily.

"Is that when you came to Dumbledore?" Hermione asked curiously.

Snape remained facing away from her, but he shook his head. "No. Not then, although I started to re-analyse my life and doubt my actions. It wasn't long before Voldemort had me move to Hogwarts; he needed a spy and I was the most qualified and least suspicious of his followers – to be honest I was glad to get away from him.

"While there I overheard part of Trelawney's vision and, as you know, informed Voldemort. As soon as I discovered he planned to destroy the Potters, I knew I could not stand idly by. It would have been an insult to Regulus's death… so I went to the only person I could – Dumbledore.  
Our hopes were shattered when Pettigrew leaked the Potters' whereabouts. Since then, I have been leading a double life… It is always dangerous and most often demanding, but I deserve no more than that for my sins."

Viridios stood up, walked beside Snape and lay a hand on his shoulder. "I could see that you were not rotten in your core."

Snape turned to look at The Green Man; they kept eye contact for a while, but for the second time, Snape broke the gaze first. "When Dumbledore and I discussed the horcruxes, I explained my assumption that Regulus was unable to retrieve the locket. We tried to find out more, but Kreacher seemed incapable of giving us a clear story, which is why Dumbledore decided to go to the cave himself to find and destroy the horcrux.  
From there you know the story; Dumbledore returned in a weakened state, but in the mean time an attack had begun on the castle. I did all I could but as soon as I saw the headmaster, I knew there was no hope for him. He was a superb Wizard and did a great many wonderful things with his life. I wish I had seen that from the very start."

Hermione looked decidedly unhappy; she twisted her fingers together awkwardly before blurting out. "Regulus did take the locket – he swapped it for a fake and gave the locket to Kreacher to destroy and told him not to tell anyone about it… Kreacher couldn't break it, which was obviously what he was muttering about; not being able to serve his master's final order must have sent him insane. Oh – if only he could have said something, you could have taken it from Kreacher that very night and, and Dumbledore may have oh, oh, I'm so sorry. But Kreacher kept it and then Mundungus stole it, and we don't know where it is…" Hermione heaved a big shaky breath and fought back her sadness and disappointment.

Snape turned slowly, his cloak billowing with even that small movement. His face was totally impassive. "I do..." He reached inside his shirt and pulled out a long, golden chain, on the end of which was a large intricate locket of the same metal, with a snake-like S of emeralds on the front.

**_._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _.__._ _._**

**Viridios was (I believe) the Celtic name for a version of the green man ('the deity of verdure' is pretty much all I could find in my quick look online).**

**I was going to use Silvanus (the Roman equivalent) as I thought he would be better known but it was too similar to Severus (and Sirius lol!)**

**It's actually been such a long time since I read the last 2 books (and my story!!!) that some of the details have slipped my mind. I've done the best I can with wiki etc. but let me know if I've made any huge blunders and I'll try to change them.**


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